Next to Perfect... a.k.a. The Post with the Cheesy Title

Friday night while Elyse was still in NYC, the sisters went to see the Broadway production of Next to Normal. We've heard so many awesome things about it, so we were excited to see it for ourselves. We were even more excited when Mario Cantone sat down two rows in front of us. Celebrity spotting week! And we will choose to ignore you if you are one of those people who's like, "Please. Celebrities go to the bathroom just like the rest of us." Umm. First of all, never use the word "bathroom" to prove a point. And second of all, no matter what, it's always fun to see how much you tower over them in real life. Anyway, let's talk about the show!

It was incredible. Seriously we're not yanking your chain or saying we loved it just because there are songs we can belt in our car or because Aaron Tveit (a.k.a. Nate Archibald's cousin on Gossip Girl) is perfect-looking and can sing perfectly and has a perfectly-flexible back arch that sort of comes out of nowhere. This is a show where you are literally hypnotized the whole time. Word to the wise, do not read the synopsis beforehand. Annie didn't and it was so amazing for her to be able to gasp and choke and sputter and cry while Elyse pretty much knew what was going to happen.

Every single one of the characters was believable with voices that blew us away. J. Robert Spencer (who looks a ridiculous amount like Ricky Martin) had us in tears in a good way every time he sang. Jennifer Damiano is a teen prodigy. Alice Ripley is just TOO GOOD. With her slightly Irish twang and her somewhat crazy eyes, she delivered a performance that was so heartfelt, you sometimes can't believe someone can actually be packed with that much talent.

Usually woe-is-me, woe-is-our-family stories tend to annoy us, because a lot of the times they're not done genuinely. The teenager is usually a stereotype, pissed off at the world but only because a 50-year-old writer wrote her that way. This show presents a family whom you connect to, who you root for, and who you pity. We know we're coming off a little bit serious here, but to us, this show proved a point. Although the lite-brite set with its sliding panels were awesome, they could have done away with that and just presented us with a group of musicians and actors- and the show still would have been incredible. This was a rock musical, with belting and a lot of riffing on the electric guitar. Yet there was no unnecessary stomping. There was no yelling to get a note. There was no forced emotion. It was incredible.

Hopefully this show will last really long, even if it doesn't win the Tony. Which it totally should. And we say that having not seen Rock of Ages or Billy Elliot. We feel like since that show won every award possible in London, it shouldn't be allowed to win that many again. Although we do love Elton. Speaking of Elton, do you remember when he sang with Eminem on that awards show? And speaking of Eminem what are you guys' thoughts on him walking out of the Movie Awards? Was that fake?