NEXT TO NORMAL – PULITZER PRIZE AND THREE-TIME TONY AWARD-WINNING “WONDROUS” POP MUSICAL OPENS COACHELLA VALLEY REPERTORY 2024-2025 SEASON

Book and Lyrics by Brian Yorkey

Music by Tom Kitt

Directed by Adam Karsten

November 6-24, 2024

SINGLE TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW

COACHELLA VALLEY REPERTORY will kick-off its 2024-2025 Season with the Pulitzer Prize and three-time Tony Award -winning rock musical NEXT TO NORMAL, running November 6 through 24. Emotional and humorous at turns, NEXT TO NORMAL is like a book that you can’t put down – once it starts, your attention is fixed. “Next to Normal covers a challenging subject, no question. That it’s hopeful and uplifting, not depressing, is more than a triumph – it’s next to wondrous” – Michael Kuchward, Associated Press

NEXT TO NORMAL began as a ten-minute piece called Feeling Electric that recent college graduates Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt wrote as a final project for the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop. Their inspiration was a segment about electroconvulsive therapy Yorkey saw on “Dateline NBC.” When it made it to Broadway, NEXT TO NORMAL was nominated for eleven Tony Awards, including wins for Best Original Score, Best Orchestrations, and Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Alice Ripley). In 2010 Yorkey and Kitt were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for NEXT TO NORMAL, citing “a powerful rock musical that grapples with mental illness in a suburban family and expands the scope of subject matter for musicals.”

The play depicts a suburban American family which, from the outside, appears to be a model of success and harmony. Inside, each member is struggling with grief, guilt, depression, mental health, drug abuse, and medical ethics. While the mother, Diana Goodman, struggles with severe bipolar disorder and the exacerbating side effects of various treatments, her husband, Dan, and daughter Natalie do their best to manage her care while battling their own emotions and fears. Ultimately, they begin to see each other for who they truly are, with compassion and clarity, and find a sense of ‘normal’ in which to move forward in their lives. Each character’s experiences are brilliantly expressed through Tom Kitt’s electrifying music and Brian Yorkey’s sensitive book and lyrics. Among the Tony Award-winning songs are “I Miss the Mountains,” “Superboy and the Invisible Girl”, and “I’m Alive.” NEXT TO NORMAL is a powerful theatrical tour de force. Once experienced, NEXT TO NORMAL is impossible to forget.

Tickets are available now for all shows in CVRep’s 2024-2025 Season – NEXT TO NORMAL, THE 39 STEPS, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, and OTHER DESERT CITIES. Information about the world premiere work from the CVRep Origins New Works Program will be announced after the first of the year. Single ticket prices are $55-$125 (opening nights). They can be purchased online at www.cvrep.org, by calling (760) 296-2966, ext. 0, or at the CVRep box office located at 68510 East Palm Canyon Dr., Cathedral City. Summer box office hours are Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and one hour prior to performances. In order to better serve audiences, patrons requesting accessibility assistance are encouraged to speak to a ticket representative while purchasing their season subscriptions.

COACHELLA VALLEY REPERTORY EXECUTIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ADAM KARSTEN has officially announced CVRep’s 2024-2025 Season: five sensational productions of award-winning plays and musicals never before produced by CVRep as well as the World Premiere of a new and timely work selected from the 2023 ORIGINS NEW WORKS PROGRAM. The season starts with Pulitzer Prize-winning, 11 Tony Award nominated NEXT TO NORMAL, followed by the hilarious Alfred Hitchcock-inspired comedy, THE 39 STEPS; Broadway’s endearing and beautifully tuneful musical, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA; Andrew Lloyd Webber

and Tim Rice’s powerful and provocative JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR; and a gripping family drama that was a Pulitzer Prize nominee, OTHER DESERT CITIES. The season’s World Premiere production, selected from more than 300 submissions to the Origins New Works Program, will be announced at a later date, with single tickets going on sale at that time.

Karsten said, “This is a crowd-pleaser season start to finish. These plays and musicals are brilliant achievements, worthy of every accolade and award they have received. In some, we’re drawn into situations that are personal, private, and even intimate, and, at others, hysterically funny and unapologetically romantic. If there is a season that has something for everyone, this is it. I remain so grateful to CVRep’s board, donors, and sponsors who help to make seasons such as this possible. And a very special ‘thank you’ from all of us at CVRep to our audiences who support our commitment to producing works that are entertaining and challenging.”

Subscription renewals, new subscriptions, and single tickets are available now. Subscription prices begin at $305. Single tickets are $115 and $125 for Opening Nights, $55 and $65 for Preview Performances, and $70 & $80 for all other performances. They can be purchased online at www.cvrep.org, by calling (760) 296-2966, ext. 0, or at the CVRep box office located at 68510 East Palm Canyon Dr., Cathedral City. Summer box office hours are Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and one hour prior to performances. In order to better serve audiences, patrons requesting accessibility assistance are encouraged to speak to a ticket representative while purchasing their season subscriptions.

COACHELLA VALLEY REPERTRORY

2024-2045 SEASON

NEXT TO NORMAL │ CVRep Premiere

Book and Lyrics by Brian Yorkey

Music by Tom Kitt

Dates: November 6-24, 2024

Opening Night is Thursday, November 7 at 7 p.m.

THE 39 STEPS │ CVRep Premiere

By Patrick Barlowe (based on the novel by John Buchan

and 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock)

Dates: December 11 – 22, 2024

Opening Night is December 12 at 7 p.m.

“The 39 Steps is a most original and truly hilariously entertaining comedy that plays out unlike anything you’ve ever experienced.” –Tom Wilson, Chicago Critic

Mix a Hitchcock movie masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, then add a dash of Monty Python craziness, and you have THE 39 STEPS. It’s a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre! This two-time Tony® and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with nonstop laughs, more than 150 madcap characters (played by an absurdly talented cast of four), an onstage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers, and some good old-fashioned romance will keep audiences laughing right out of their seats.

THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA │ CVRep Premiere

Music & Lyrics by Adam Guettel

Book by Craig Lucas

Dates: January 22 – February 9, 2025

Opening Night – January 23, 2025 at 7 p.m.)

“ … the most soul-satisfying score written for Broadway so far this century.” – Chicago Tribune, Chris Jones

Winner of six Tony® Awards, five Drama Desk Awards, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA takes us to the Tuscan countryside where a beautiful, endearing yet surprisingly childish young woman loses her hat in a sudden gust, and lands at the feet of a handsome young Florentine man. As events take place and secrets are revealed, a love story unlike any other unfolds. Filled with a beautiful blend of classical and Broadway melodies, this award-winning musical will remind you of how art and love can transcend all challenges.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR │ CVRep Premiere

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Lyrics by Tim Rice

Dates: March 5 – 23, 2025

Opening Night is March 6, 2025 at 7 p.m.

“Improbably, his message of peace and tolerance feels newly controversial in light of distant wars and domestic divisions, as painfully relevant now as in the ’70s.” – Denver Post, John Wenzel

A rock phenomenon that has dazzled audiences for decades, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR tells of the struggles between Jesus, Judas Iscariot, Mary Magdalene, his disciples, his followers, and the Roman Empire entirely through song. CVRep will present a semi-immersive version of this masterpiece in a way that has never been seen before. Join CVRep for this new staging of the iconic 1970s rock musical and such well-known songs as “Superstar,” “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” and “Gethsemane.”

OTHER DESERT CITIES │CVRep Premiere

By Jon Robin Baitz

Dates: April 23-May 4, 2025

Opening Night is April 17, 2024 at 7 p.m.

“ … the most richly enjoyable new play for grown-ups that New York has known in many a season.” – Ben Brantley, The New York Times

When a young lady arrives at her parents’ Palm Springs manor on Christmas Eve with a copy of her ‘tell-all’ memoir in tow, she uncovers a devastating family secret—launching her parents into a panic that threatens to rip the clan apart. With stinging wit and razor-sharp insight, OTHER DESERT CITIES “has the appeal of a Broadway hit from another age” (The New York Times). This scintillating Pulitzer Prize finalist hits close to home and will grip audiences from start to finish.

COACHELLA VALLEY REPERTORY is a non-profit, professional regional theater. It is the only theater in California’s Coachella Valley that has Small Professional Theatre (SPT) status with Actor’s Equity.