Art is a powerful medium for understanding ourselves and each other. As one of those art forms, theater can elucidate and educate, allowing us inside of the internal lives of the characters through song and dance in a way that other genres cannot, making it fertile ground for exploring issues related to mental health. Especially in recent years, many shows have explored the inner lives of people on stage. I created a top ten list for this category, focusing on the musicals that most directly deal with mental health issues. This means honorable mention shows, such as Gypsy, Rent, The Light in the Piazza, Fun Home, Follies or Company, that address the topic in a more tertiary but important manner must be left out of the conversation. Below you will find my list of the top ten musicals (in no particular order) that explore mental health head-on.
1.
Dear Evan Hansen – is about an anxious teenager who carelessly lies to a mourning family out of fear and convenience. Psychotherapy, medication, depression, anxiety, and suicide are all directly confronted. This latter component is particularly important in a show about high school students, as adolescence presents specific risk factors for self-harm, including impulsivity due to cognitive immaturity. The first track, “Anybody Have A Map,” is helpful for parents of young people with mental health issues, as the song insightfully dramatizes the rift between parents and teenagers. The adults humorously but all too familiarly struggle to connect and direct their children, such as when the lead character’s mother sings,, “Anybody maybe know how the hell to do this? I don’t know if you can tell but this is me just pretending to know.”
2.
Promises, Promises – With an exuberant score by Burt Bacharach and Hal David (originally produced on Broadway in 1968) and a 2010 revival starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth, this show does not sound like the venue for exploring mental health issues, which perhaps partially explains why this show does not work well as a coherent whole. This musical attempted to deal with the issue of depression and suicide, with the female lead, Fran (Chenoweth) discovered overdosed on pills by Chuck (Hayes). But her inner turmoil is never fully explored and thus the suicide attempt does not strongly impact the viewer. (Side note: When I saw the revival, Chenoweth was a delight, as per usual, Sean Hayes was wonderful, but it was the acting genius of Katie Finneran as the drunken Marge McDougal who stole the show.)
3.
Next to Normal is an intimate family drama about mental illness. Diana Goodman is experiencing serious mental health problems as she copes with the trauma of losing her son. At one point in the play she stops taking her medication, which is expertly dramatized in the song “I Miss the Mountains.” The musical also examines the impact of her mental health condition on the entire family.
4.
Lady In The Dark is about Liza Elliot, a dissatisfied editor of a successful fashion magazine, seeking psychoanalysis to treat her mental illness. Most of the musical occurs within Liza’s psyche, a trifecta of dream sequences. This show could use a modern-day revival, but in the meantime, you can always watch the movie adaptation.
5.
Jagged Little Pill premiered in 2018 at the famed American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA. The musical is takes the music of Alanis Morissette as it’s starting point, but this is no jukebox musical. The show is a family drama, centered around the Healy’s of Connecticut, who create the image of the perfect family but are hiding very real problems within. The show deftly tackles important mental health topics including sexual assault, trauma, and opioid addiction. The stunning and emotive choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and sharp book by Diablo Cody elucidate and examine these issues of human fragility. When this show premieres on Broadway, it will be resonating with audiences young and old.
6.
Anyone Can Whistle is a 1964 show where the characters are patients that escape from a mental health hospital. Conformity and normalcy are all called into question as the escapees mingle with the townspeople and the audience and songs such as “I’m Like the Bluebird” juxtapose the disgruntled townsfolk with the more sane inpatients.
7.
Grey Gardens is based on the documentary about two Kennedy related recluses living among the pile-up of personal effects, cats and art work in a house falling down around them. Little Edie and Big Edie remain utterly and consistently in denial, focused only on themselves and each other. They appear to have a multitude of comorbidity, including hoarding, co-dependence and agoraphobia. The dynamic between them is endlessly fascinating, with them alternating between deep hurt and enmeshed closeness.
8.
Be More Chill is the next great mental health musical to hit Broadway, following a sold-out run off-Broadway fueled by a devoted fan base. Audiences have flocked to this show with its contemporary themes of technology and modern anxieties centered around Jeremy (Will Roland), an outsider nerd desperate for connection. Rivaling Dear Evan Hansen for its phenomenal representation of social anxiety through song, the score by Joe Iconis features “Michael In the Bathroom”, sung by Jeremy’s best and only friend, Michael. Played by George Salazar, the experience is intense and raw, with a panic attack on stage performance. (You can watch a performance clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXXVsKBFro.)
9.
Assassins – Bringing it back to Sondheim, this show finally received its Broadway bow in 2004, delayed from its original Great White Way opening in the fall of 2001 (the production team rightly decided that after the events of 9/11, it was not the right time for a musical about presidential assassinations). This pieces showcases the real-life assassins and would-be assassins of American Presidents. We see these individuals portrayed as powerless, isolated, disgruntled, aimless, angry, confused, and mentally ill people. In this show, the audience is challenged and confronted: Does what ails them ail us all?
10.
Man of La Mancha follows the trials and adventures of Don Quixote, who is delusional. He fights windmills believing that they are actual human opponents. He only gains self-awareness when he is confronted with mirrors that reflect back his true image, an apt metaphor for attaining insight in therapy through self-reflection guided by a clinician.
There is a strong argument to be made for musicals being the perfect art form for exploring mental health. Theater allows the audience into the characters’ inner lives through dialogue and song. When words alone are insufficient—a song begins. The combination of words and music allow us a deeper understanding of the people inhabiting the world on stage and thus a greater understanding of ourselves.
Best,
Dr. Drama