by John Pixley

Michael Jones looked like she was fighting back tears. In fact, it looked like she was pretty much crying. Meanwhile, Fred Theders-Arteaga was all but jumping up and down, clearly proud that he had made it and proud of what he had done, what he had accomplished.

Both, along with the others taking a bow, had accomplished a lot, indeed. The tears and the exalting were, as with the standing ovation, quite justified, quite understandable. All the more so because these were kids in high school.

It was the end of the last performance last month of “Next to Normal” at Claremont High School.  The play, by Brian Yorkey, Tom Kitt, et al, is a rock opera, with hardly any spoken dialogue, in the tradition of the Who’s “Tommy,” Green Day’s “American Idiot,” and “Rent.” This meant that the actors were singing, often at full volume or at least with maximum emotion, and backed with live music for the entire two-hour-plus performance.

And, not unlike “Tommy,” “Rent,” and “American Idiot,” and arguably more so, “Next to Normal” isn’t some sunny, happily ever after musical. It’s more like a tragic opera, dealing with particularly heavy issues.

It’s about a suburban family that looks normal, but isn’t. Ms. Jones played the mother, who is mentally ill and communicates with a son, powerfully played by Jude Ready, who died after becoming ill some years earlier. Theders-Arteaga played Henry, a high school student who befriends Natalie (Mairead Lucke), the family’s daughter who is barely hanging on, feeling responsible for and resentful of her mother. Avon Bisano played the father, desperately trying to hold the family together, and Ryan Fass played both therapists who guide the mother through various treatments, including electroshock therapy.

Yes, this was heavy stuff and certainly not the typical milieu for a high school production.  (What’s more, there were plenty of f-bombs.) This was difficult stuff for any theater ensemble — and all the more so for high school students. No wonder Jones was in tears and Theders-Arteaga, the only cast member not in the school’s thespian troupe, was pumping his fist.

It is good to see that Mohammed Mangrio is settling into his job as CHS’s theater director and following the bold example of Krista Elhai, trusting the students with works that challenge them — and us. This was right in line with such Elhai-led productions of “Tommy,” “The Laramie Project,” and “Avenue Q,” and it left me all but in tears and pumping my fist. Like Elhai, Mangrio gave his students and the audience a dramatic and emotional workout.

This production was a great example of the power of live performance. For years, I went into Los Angeles and environs to see high-quality live theater, mostly at tiny, on-a-shoestring theaters. But these past years I’ve grown tired of sitting in traffic, especially coming home at 11 at night, as well as when trying to get to the theater on time, and I’ve come to appreciate that there are plenty of opportunities to experience the power of live performance in and around Claremont.

Not only is there the CHS theater, but the Claremont Colleges have put on some very impressive shows in recent years, as has the Inland Valley Repertory Theater.

Then there is Ophelia’s Jump. This Claremont-bred theater company continues to put on professional grade productions in its modest industrial park space right across the border in Upland. Even if Beatrice Casagran, et al, haven’t quite hit their usual stride since the pandemic (who has?), as I keep saying, going to an Ophelia’s Jump show is like going to LA without the traffic.

Live performances also include music, which can also be quite moving and of which there are plenty around Claremont. These include a bounty of free concerts and recitals at the colleges featuring students, faculty and guest artists, not to mention a bunch of musical offerings around town.

I recently attended a Sunday afternoon concert by the Claremont Concert Choir, with Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer and Scripps College students, and the High Notes of the Pasadena Chorale, a girls ensemble. It featured lovely singing by the choirs plus a stunning rendition, in two parts, of William Byrd’s “Mass for Three Voices” by choir directors Charles W. Kamm and Jeffrey Bernstein, and guest soprano Lika Miyake. Right here, the performance transported me some place far.