MCA Musical Theater Department Presents "Normal? A New Musical"

| Photo courtesy of The King’s College

The King’s Musical Theater Department performed their show Normal? A New Musical from Friday, Feb. 11 to Saturday, Feb. 12. Coming in at a length of about an hour and a half, Normal? offered a lively show full of music, comedy and wonder. The musical was created and performed by King’s students under the direction of Frank Mihelich and musical direction of Virginia Hart Pike. 

Normal? also boasts the acting talents of students like Connor Kopko and Zoe Whitford, among others. At the moment, both Kopko and Whitford are making great strides in their acting careers. Connor is working on the second season of Welcome to Hope for Pure Flix while Zoe is playing a recurring character on the third season of Powerbook II: Ghost.

At its core, Normal? is a “handmade” musical created “by King’s students, for king’s students,” said the director, Frank Mihelich.

“What does it mean to be a college student, figuring out who you are, while coming out of a worldwide pandemic,” said Mihelich in a short speech before the beginning of the performance. “What does it mean to go back to normal?” This is the core concept of Normal?

With the musical being hosted in King’s city room, Normal? has a much smaller and cozier atmosphere than many other theater performances in the city. With such a small audience and an even smaller stage, the music manages to completely encompass the room. While that cozy atmosphere is certainly inviting, the MCA department still cannot draw enough people to fill even the city room.

The musical follows a small collection of imaginary king’s students, as they battle the complications of the COVID-19 pandemic, how that impacts their faith and find out what it means to go back to normal.

Surprisingly enough, Normal? is anything but normal. The musical lacks a linear plot, although this seems to be on purpose. Instead of focusing on a linear story, Normal? consists of a series of monologues in which the characters describe the plights and weights of their worry. The themes of these monologs and subsequent songs focus on living up to expectations, mental health, heartbreak and long phone calls with mom. However, in the pursuit of sounding relatable, some of the emotional moments actually fall flat on their face. For example, at one point an actor stood up on stage and shouted “I studied for the exam, but didn’t make the grade! Why God?”

While the different monologs of Normal? are intriguing, the musical direction is truly what steals the show. Moses Kazanijan, a junior in the house of Reagan, absolutely killed it on the drums, as they rocked the room. Unfortunately, the natural sound of the drums sometimes drowned out the voices of those on stage. 

When asked about what it was like to play drums on such a small stage, Kazanijan commented, “It’s so hardcore. You just gotta do it y’know? People always complain about me being loud but personally, I don’t care.”
Despite its flaws, the crowd's reaction to Normal? seems to be mostly positive. Josh Crowder, a sophomore, said “King’s has a lot of really talented people and seeing them come together like this to make something original will always be amazing.”