The 63rd Annual Tony Awards took place last Sunday night, and to my understanding the show was packed with excitement.

Having walked away with 10 of the 15 awards it was nominated for, Billy Elliot was pretty much to the Tony Awards what Twilight was to the MTV Movie Awards; only, to my understanding, better (I love you Twilight, but Best Movie? Really? Against The Dark Knight? It makes no sense).

Impressive!

Bret Michaels broke his face after rocking out to “Nothin’ But a Good Time” with the Rock of Ages cast (unsurprisingly, YouTube is ready to meet all your “I-Gotta-See-That” needs).

Entertaining! Really, I’m glad he’s okay and able to laugh about it. That could have been serious.

And Next to Normal – presently one of the most talked about Broadway shows, if my Google Alerts are any indication – took home three of the 11 nominations it came in with: Alice Ripley won for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, Tom Kitt and Michael Starobin won Best Orchestration, and Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey won Best Original Score Written for the Theatre.

Interesting…

In case you didn’t know (or aren’t are overzealous as I when signing up for Google Alerts), Next to Normal is about a family dealing with mental illness. The mother (Diana, portrayed by Alice Ripley) has bipolar disorder, and the show touches on themes of ethics in psychiatry, drug abuse, suicide, grief, and how it all fits in modern suburban life. Or so that’s what Wikipedia tells me. I really need to get out more.

Given what the musical’s about, it’s that last Tony Next to Normal – and Kitt and Yorkey – racked up that left me curious. Best Original Score Written for the Theatre… Hmm…

What does the score to mental illness sound like, I wonder? Is it dark and brooding, full of lots of bass drums and tubas? Or is it high pitched and fast paced, packed with squeaking clarinets and fluttering flutes? Perhaps it’s a combination of everything and not really something you’d associate with “mental illness” if you listened to it sans the performance?

And how does one go about writing that score? Did Kitt and Yorkey draw on any personal experiences with mental illness? Did they just use their imaginations, creating what they thought certain scenes riddled with manic highs and depressed lows might sound like?

Whatever the score sounds like – and however Kitt and Yorkey came up with it – I imagine none of it’s really any different from how writers of mainstream music come up with their songs. Whether it’s happiness, sadness, loneliness, broken heartedness, or playfulness, most songs – and their music – convey some sort of emotion or mood the writer has experienced. And, it’s because we’re all human and we all experience the same kinds of emotions and moods at various points in our lives that we’re able to relate to these songs. Maybe it even helps determine our favorite songs, least favorite songs, and “I-Only-Listen-To-This-Alone-In-My-Car” songs.

Depression, mania, hallucinations, addictions – think about your own experiences with mental illness and other related mental health issues. If you had to create your own score to mental illness, what would it sound like? What kinds of instruments would you use? What would the tempo be? Or, if you’re not familiar with composing music, what kinds of songs already in existence would you include on a soundtrack to mental illness?

Oh, and feel free to sound off in the comments – I’m always looking for new stuff to add to my music library.

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Roberta Rosenberg (June 10, 2009)

thomascrown (June 11, 2009)

    Last reviewed: 10 Jun 2009