Introduction
Through combining music, theatre and other artistic elements, musical theatre can be a particularly powerful medium through which important stories can be shared, and can help us to relate and empathise with the characters. Here are a few musicals that tackle topics related to mental health:
(Warning: spoilers and trigger warnings are listed for each musical)
Next to Normal
Next to Normal by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt - (trigger warning: suicide)
Next to Normal revolves around Diana Goodman, a woman with bipolar disorder, and her family. They appear to be living a normal, happy life at first, but as it turns out Diana is struggling with her illness and is hallucinating her dead son; her treatment is causing her mental health to spiral and she and her family both struggle to meet their emotional needs.
This musical talks about:
Psychiatry
Psychotherapy
Mental illness (bipolar disorder)
Family and Mental Health
Dear Evan Hansen
Dear Evan Hansen by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Steven Levenson - (trigger warning: suicide)
This musical tells the story of Evan Hansen, a teenager with social anxiety, who navigates through high school in the wake of a classmate’s suicide.
This musical talks about:
Anxiety
Suicide
Parent-child relationships (especially for children with mental illness)
Therapy
Heathers
Heathers by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe - (trigger warnings: murder, suicide, rape, homophobia, eating disorders, gun violence, bullying)
This dark comedy, despite being on the more extreme end, delves deeply into a myriad (it’s a reference!) of mental health issues that are incredibly prevalent nowadays. Veronica Sawyer, a senior at Westerburg High, mingles with her school’s clique of popular girls and falls for the dark and mysterious Jason Dean - things only go downhill from there.
This musical talks about:
School
Adult negligence
Suicide and death
Trauma and worldview
Mean Girls
Mean Girls by Jeff Richmond, Nell Benjamin, Tina Fey - (trigger warning: eating disorders)
Despite often being compared with Heathers, it presents an arguably more relatable tale for most teenagers. Set in North Shore High, 16-year-old Cady Heron joins the school community from Kenya and tries to fit in, learning a few lessons on the way.
This musical talks about:
Conformity and Peer Pressure
Bullying
Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice by Eddie Perfect, Anthony King, Scott Brown - (trigger warning: suicide)
Based on the 1988 movie of the same name, Beetlejuice is a dark comedy that tells the story of Lydia Deetz, a teenager newly mourning her mother’s death, as she encounters a demon and a recently deceased couple while trying to navigate through her emotions and grief.
This musical talks about:
Death
Toxic positivity
Family
Researcher - Annette