Sept. 6-16

CenterStage @ JCC of Louisville
3600 Dutchmans Lane • 459-0660
jewishlouisville.org/CenterStage
$20 ($18 adv.); various times

“They’re the perfect loving family, so adoring. And I love them every day of every week.” Bipolar housewife Diana opens “Next to Normal” with these optimistic lines. What follows — “So my son’s a little shit, my husband’s boring, and my daughter, though a genius, is a freak.” — is the first sign of the emotional rollercoaster to come, as Diana and her family deal with the ups and downs of her manic depression and struggle for normalcy, or something next to it. Winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for drama, “Next to Normal” features the poetic lyrics and lush rock music of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. At times tongue-in-cheek (in one number, the cast rattles off a list of anti-depressants to the tune of “My Favorite Things”), Kitt and Yorkey are unflinching in their portrayal of mental illness in suburban America. —Jennifer Harlan