Next to Normal Chapter Summary & Analysis - Act 2, Part 1 Summary

Act 2, Part 1 Summary

Scene 1 - Outside a noisy club, a drugged up Natalie drags a reluctant Henry into yet another dance party, saying she deserves to party - her mother is getting electrocuted, "every day for two weeks." Meanwhile, as Natalie and Henry dance and talk, Natalie saying as she pops another pill that she'd never let anyone "fuck with her mind like that," Diana is prepared for treatment. Electrodes are placed on her head, music begins, and suddenly the real Diana appears, describing her experience in song (an intermittently edgy rock tune, "Wish I Were Here" - see "Quotes," p. 60). As Diana sings, Natalie joins her, both singing of the intensity of an experience for which they're not really there (see "Quotes," p. 61). They actually speak to each other in their shared hallucination, talking about how "everything is different now." As Diana's "body" is taken from the treatment room,...
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