“The Musical,” and More
Some interesting reviews from Toronto of Autism: The Musical which (EyeWeekly notes) offers a “real life alternative to Rain Man.” And, while I’m on the subject, two more musicals: In Brick Township, NJ, a “rock opera,” Day After Day, that is about “the daily struggles the families of autistic children face”; it’s being performed this Friday and has also been performed eight times in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York over the course of two months in 2004.
On a slightly different note (sorry for the unintended pun), in New York there’s Next to Normal, the city’s “first mainstream musical about manic depression.” Housewife Diana is manic-depressive and, it seems, undergoes electro-shock treatment in the course of the show (someone it seems a little off to have just written that); one supposes taht a dance of “pill-proffering pharmacologists” will not exactly enchant the “this vaccine thing is all a conspiracy between Big Pharma and the government” lobby. Notes the February 14th New York Times:
………“Next to Normal” assesses the fragmenting effects of mental illness within a family. It also, in an honored tradition of all-American hometown weepers, makes a high school dance an acid test for a central character. And the lyrics traffic in Lifetime-style buzzwords. People sing with some regularity of wanting to “begin to heal,” and they ask questions like: “Who’s crazy: the one who’s uncured? Or maybe the one who’s endured?”
Schmalzy stuff but “the uncured” and “the one who’s endured”: Those phrases resonate around here.
Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar, broadway, children, electroshock treatment, manic depression, Music, musical, pdd-nos, Psychiatry, PsychologyRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Music, Psychiatry, Psychology
5 opinions for “The Musical,” and More
Not Your Average Movies 2
Feb 29, 2008 at 5:08 pm
[...] I noted two musicals about autism—-here’s two more movies with autistic characters. Today’s New York [...]
kyra
Mar 1, 2008 at 10:01 pm
i saw Autism; The Musical! last summer at the Newport Film Festival and loved it!
Kristina Chew, PhD
Mar 1, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Still need to see it—-it is playing in NYC soon but as always there’s the babysitter issue…..
The Musical Starts Right Here
Mar 24, 2008 at 6:00 pm
[...] of the film from Toronto can be found here, and also from the Seattle Times Newspaper (”the documentary fully engages [...]
The Artistic Spectrum: This Week
Apr 6, 2008 at 12:30 am
[...] On April 16, comedian Elijah Wapner will perform and the MTV “True Life” series and Autism: The Musical will be screened, and there will be a Q & A session with director Tricia [...]
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