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The sad word on that street is that 2009 Tony Award winner Alice Ripley has been having trouble getting through eight a week of Next to Normal at the Booth Theater, her voice apparently having been compromised by her no-holds-barred performance and, in my analysis, by flawed technique. (Ripley sang consistently flat during the performance I attended, and she yielded the role of bipolar wife and mom Diana to her understudy for the show's first performance after the Tonys.) The good news is that she sounds terrific on the cast album. So do J. Robert Spencer as Diana's husband, Aaron Tveit as her son, and Jennifer Damiano as her daughter. Whatever major flaws in construction this musical may exhibit, its Tony-winning score -- music by Tom Kitt, lyrics by Brian Yorkey -- fully deserves that honor. If you haven't already picked up Ghostlight's terrific two-disc recording, do yourself a favor and get it soon. 
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