It was nominated for eleven Tony Awards that year and won three: Best Original Score, Best Orchestration, and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Alice Ripley.
Meanwhile, Diana repeatedly visits her psychiatrist's office, where she is prescribed a variety of medications that all prove to cause debilitating physical side effects; Dan waits through her appointments in the car while he questions his own sanity ("Who's Crazy?/ My Psychopharmacologist and I").
After witnessing a romantic moment between Natalie and Henry ("Perfect For You"), Diana mourns the loss of her old life, longing for the days she lived in both pain and joy, as opposed to the numbness her new medication has caused ("I Miss the Mountains").
Dan returns home to clean up the scene of his wife's attempt at suicide, narrowly avoiding a breakdown of his own as he reminisces about the years spent with Diana (“I’ve Been”).
Upon returning to the hospital, he finds that Diana has become aggressive with the staff for wanting her to sign the confirmation papers, likening the idea of shock therapy to its depiction in the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest ("Didn't I See This Movie?").
During this song Natalie expresses concerns over the efficacy of this "cure" claiming her mind is "so pure she doesn't know anything" while Dan remains hopeful about the eventual return of Diana's memory.
Diana confusedly admits she recalls hallucinating Gabe as a teenager, and Dan frantically says they will get her to the doctor and do more ECT ("It's Gonna Be Good - Reprise"), which leads to a heated argument between the two that Natalie witnesses the peak of.
After Natalie runs upstairs to her bedroom, where Henry is waiting to take her to the dance, Diana questions Dan about why he stays despite all of the things she puts him through and all the pain they have experienced together.
Though Dan begs her to stay, Diana leaves and visits Dr. Madden, frustrated that years of treatment haven't seemed to improve her condition, and wonders if her grief over losing her son should truly be medicated ("The Break").
Another form of treatment the play explores is psychotherapy, where patients talk to psychologists or other licensed mental health professionals and aim to work through the psychological component of their disease through conversation; Diana's psychiatrist leads her through a guided meditation or hypnotherapeutic approach.
[8] This had a reading in 2002 at Village Theatre in Issaquah, Washington, then at several venues in New York City,[8] with a cast that included Norbert Leo Butz as Dan, Sherie Rene Scott as Diana, Benjamin Schrader as Gabe, Anya Singleton as Natalie and Greg Naughton as Dr. Madden.
[11] Second Stage Theatre then workshopped the piece in both 2006 and 2007, featuring Cassidy and then Gregg Edelman as Dan, Alice Ripley as Diana, Mary Faber and then Phoebe Strole as Natalie, Rapp as Dr. Madden/Dr.
[citation needed] Meanwhile, at the urging of Stone and director Michael Greif, who had joined the team, the creators focused the show on the family's pain rather than on the critique of the medical establishment.
The cast featured Ripley as Diana, Brian d'Arcy James as Dan, Aaron Tveit as Gabe, Jennifer Damiano as Natalie, Adam Chanler-Berat as Henry and Asa Somers as Dr. Madden/Dr.
[15] The critics found the show internally confused, and the team decided to make major changes in both the book and score, including eliminating the original title song, "Feeling Electric".
[8] The re-written musical was given a regional theatre production at the Arena Stage (normally in Washington, D.C. but operating in Virginia during a renovation of its main facility), from November 21, 2008, through January 18, 2009, under the direction of Greif.
[27] Cast replacements during the run included Marin Mazzie as Diana, Brian d'Arcy James[28] and later Jason Danieley as Dan, Kyle Dean Massey as Gabe, and Meghann Fahy as Natalie.
Alice Ripley reprised her role as Diana and was joined by Asa Somers as Dan, Emma Hunton as Natalie, Curt Hansen as Gabe, Preston Sadleir as Henry and Jeremy Kushnier as Dr. Madden/Dr.
[35][36][37] East West Players produced a diverse and inclusive version of the musical featuring a cast with nearly all artists of color as a part of their 51st season under the direction of Nancy Keystone.
[41] East West Players' producing artistic director Snehal Desai made a point to belabor the importance of "shedding light on the stigma of mental illness in our communities," and that he hoped that the production could create "a space for that conversation.
The European premiere and the first non-English language production opened in September 2010 at Det Norske Teatret in Oslo, Norway under the direction of Svein Sturla Hungnes.
[61] The Asian premiere was staged at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati, Philippines in March 2011 and again in October 2011, performed in English, re-imagined by director Bobby Garcia.
The cast included Pilipinas Got Talent star Markki Stroem as Henry, Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo as Diana, Jett Pangan as Dan, Bea Garcia as Natalie, Felix Rivera as Gabe, and Jake Macapagal as Doctor Madden.
The cast included Sally Ann Triplett as Diana, Adrian Pang as Dan, Julia Abueva as Natalie, Nathan Hartono as Gabe, Linden Furnell as Henry, and Juan Jackson as Doctor Madden.
The cast included Queenie van de Zandt as Diana, Tyran Parke as Dan, Melanie Bird as Natalie, Sam Richardson as Gabe, Liam Wigney as Henry and Ross Chisari as Dr. Madden/Dr.
[71] Due to the snap COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, they were only able to perform one show at that time, resuming nearly eight months later in March 2022 with Hanlon Innocent alternating with Tomáš Kantor as Henry and Matt Hetherington reprising the role of Dan.
[75] The Mexican cast also included Federico Di Lorenzo as Dan, María Penella as Natalie, Mariano Palacios as Gabe, Jerry Velázquez as Henry/Gabe and Héctor Berzunza as Dr. Madden/Dr.
Produced by Javier Faroni and starring Laura Conforte as Diana, Alejandro Paker as Dan, Florencia Otero as Natalie, Matías Mayer as Gabe, Fernando Dente as Henry, and Mariano Chiesa as Dr. Madden/Dr.
[83] A Spanish-language production opened at the Teatro Pérez Galdós in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, on September 14, 2017, starring Nina as Diana, and then it toured through Spain with stops at Barcelona, Bilbao, and Madrid.
A Russian-language production (Недалеко от Нормы), directed by Anastasia Grinenko, opened in Minsk, Belarus on March 28, 2018, with Svetlana Matsievskaia starring as Diana.