Next to Normal

When analyzing Next to Normal, i will discuss Hornby's elements of rhythm and duration through looking at the song lyrics and composition.

In the song, "Make Up Your Mind/Catch Me I'm Falling, " there is a dark and ominous heartbeat that makes the rhythm of this song increase intensely.  This happens towards the end of the song after Dr. Madden has asked her to make up her mind about treatment. Her heartbeat is consistent at first when she is saying "Catch me i'm falling, catch me before it's too late,"(Kitt 50) but then after she keeps singing the heartbeat keeps increasing until it final flattens out into its last beat. When this is happening the tension is rising with the beats of the music getting faster until the end when the audience is left with a heavy feeling of tension released. 

The song that has the longest duration is "Who's Crazy/ My Psychopharmacologist and I."  I believe that this song gets the most stage time because it is such a key song/ part of the play. This is the first time that she has realized her problem and has asked for help to get "better".  However as the song goes on, the audience realizes that maybe she's not crazy and that having someone take many pills isn't going to help them as much as one would think. In this song she says, "Without a little lift, the ballerina falls," (Yorkey 16) I believe she is trying to convince herself that the medicine and the side effects are worth the "lift" that she receives from them. At the end of the song, she says she doesn't feel anything anymore, which triggers the doctor to conclude she is finally "stable". The really makes you think about how the medicine is making her feel and how bad it may be for her.