History Theatre / NextToNormal

* OedipusComplex: The relationship between Gabe, Diana, and Dan; inverted as this trope doesn't affect Gabe's development as much as Diana's and Dan's
** Depending on the production, Gabe's approach toward Diana can be very seductive especially [[spoiler: when he incites her to commit suicide]].
** In "You Don't Know/I am the One", Diana is very caught between Dan's steadfast support and [[spoiler: the memory of]] Gabe. As mentioned in the bullet above, depending on the production when Gabe says "Look at me", he is either angrily saying it to his father [[spoiler:who refuses to acknowledge his death]] or almost seductively to his mother. Most promo performances of the song with little context for it tend to go with the latter version.

* SideEffectsInclude: "May cause the following side effects, one or more..."
-->Dizziness, drowsiness, sexual dysfunction...headaches and tremors and night fears and seizures. Diarrhea, constipation, nervous laughter, palpitations. Anxiousness, anger, exhaustion, insomnia, irritability, nausea, vomiting- (Odd and alarming sexual feelings) Oh, and one last thing: [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Use may be fatal...]]

* [[spoiler:DeadAllAlong]]: As we find out half an hour in, [[spoiler: Dan and Diana's son Gabe has been dead for sixteen years.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Natalie

* [[spoiler: ScrewThisImOuttaHere]]: "So Anyway".

* SungThroughMusical: While there is ''some'' dialogue, most of the conversations are sung through.

* AdultFear: The entire premise could be considered this.

* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler: Natalie for Gabe.]]

** "I'm Alive", while very dark in substance in its initial iteration, becomes even more overwhelmingly vicious halfway through its reprise -- Gabe becomes very vehement in tone and word choice as he [[spoiler: re-asserts his control over Diana]].

-->'''Dr. Madden''': Hmmm. . . patient stable.

* [[spoiler:DeadAllAlong]]: As we find out half an hour in, [[spoiler: Dan and Diana's son Gabe has been dead for years.]] However, the second act confirms [[spoiler: just how many years he had been dead for. Sixteen.]]

* IronicBirthday: Gabe's birthday, when the delusional Diana bakes Gabe a cake, is when the audience [[spoiler: explicitly finds out, from Dan, that "he's been dead all these years." (Sixteen, to be exact, but it's not confirmed until the second act.)]]

* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Natalie, but mainly as a JerkassFacade for dealing with her family problems.
** ''"all those years I prayed that / You'd go away for good / Half the time afraid that / You really would..."''

* {{Foreshadowing:}}

* InformedAttribute: Subtly enforced with Gabe - Diana claims that his day consists of "Jazz band before school. Class. Key Club. Then football" despite him never being shown doing any of these things. [[spoiler:The reason he's never shown doing these things is because he's just a recurring hallucination that Diana ''thinks'' is doing these things]].

** Also early on, during "Just Another Day", Gabe says "Good morning, Sunshine" to Natalie, who walks passed him without a word. On first viewings, it's just Natalie ignoring him, because he's being annoying. On second viewings, [[spoiler: it's because Gabe was never really there in the first place.]]

** Also early on, during "Just Another Day", Gabe says "Good morning, Sunshine" to Natalie, who walks passed him without a word. On first viewings, it's just Natalie ignoring him, because he's being annoying. On second viewings, [[spoiler: it's because Gabe never really there in the first place.]]

** Also early on, during "Just Another Day", Gabe says "Good morning, Sunshine" to Natalie, walks passed him without responding. On first viewings, it's just Gabe annoying Natalie and her ignoring him. On second viewings, [[spoiler: it's because he wasn't really there in the first place.]]

* IAmSong: "I'm Alive". "Everything Else" is an interesting variation, since it's an IAmSong sung in the second person by the subject of the song (i.e. Natalie's singing about herself, but using the pronoun "you"). "I Am the One"

* YesButWhatDoesItDO: "May cause the following side effects, one or more..."

* RockStarSong: Parodied by Diana's hallucinations about Doctor Madden in "My Psychopharmacologist and I", and in Madden's cut song "Feeling Electric."

* CutSong: Many. MANY.