“We tried to give you a normal life. I see now I have no idea what that is.”
As it has gradually become our habit to visit English theaters during our leisure time, we resolved upon watching Next to Normal, an internationally known musical, with Ms Şeker at the end of the last school year. We met in front of Vienna’s English Theatre and after having taken some pictures as a memento, Ms. Şeker guided us to our seats. Subsequently, we waited with bated breath for the beginning of the performance and when the lights were turned off, we finally got to see what we were eagerly waiting for.
The play was divided into two acts of about 60 minutes each. In the first act we were able to get our very first impressions of the plot and in all honesty, we were thrilled right away. The play started with the main characters coming on stage and singing their first song together. At first, the musical seemed to be about the pretty normal life of a rather happy family. Nevertheless, within a short period of time the plot did a 180-degree turn, which we won’t tell you about in case you want to go and watch the play yourself – and you should really consider watching it because it was amazing.
After the said plot twist, you could learn more about the mother of the family and her then obvious bipolar disorder. Afterwards, the storyline intensified but it was interrupted by the break. During the break, we decided to skip going to the toilet in order to talk about what had happened in the first act and to build up theories about what was going to happen next.
As the second half of the musical started, we finally got to see if someone had guessed it right (it turned out that nobody even had a clue) and we enjoyed the last hour of the show. Again, we cannot really tell you much about the story since it would take all the joy away. 
What we can say though, is that a few of us even left the theatre crying because we were extremely moved.
To sum up, we all are really thankful for having had the opportunity to go to the theater together and we are looking forward to seeing another play in the future and maybe even to writing another review. Last but not least, we highly recommend that you take some time off and watch this musical!
Michael and Jasmina, 8B
