Perry Sherman is happy to be in Pittsburgh, whether as a student studying theater at Carnegie Mellon University or on a national tour.

The New York native is back as an understudy for two very different roles in what’s described as a rock musical, “Next to Normal,” which opens tonight and continues through Sunday as part of the PNC Broadway Across America Pittsburgh series.

With workshops and readings that date back to 1998, the musical eventually opened just a little more than three years ago Off Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre.

From its humble beginnings there in 2008, the play hit the road to Washington, D.C., was re-worked and went back to New York and Broadway, where it opened in April 2009.

It garnered three Tony Awards, including Best Actress for lead Alice Ripley as Diana Goodman in 2009, then won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Ripley reprises her role in the national tour.

Sherman, from the road in Hartford, Conn., last week, said his high school acting teacher was familiar with Carnegie Mellon and recommended he apply there.

After completing a year, he auditioned for and was cast in “Spring Awakening,” part of the Broadway series in 2009.

“I did ‘Spring Awakening’ for a year, left and came back to school, completed my second year, then was cast in ‘Next to Normal,’” he said. “There’s really something to be said about gaining real life experience on a tour.”

Explaining his roles can be somewhat of a spoiler. In the musical, Diana is bipolar, struggles with depression, has experienced shock therapy and been prescribed countless medications. She also hasn’t come to grips with the loss of her son Gabe when he was just 8 months old.

Diana’s condition affects her entire family, including husband Dan and teen daughter Natalie, who also has a very supportive boyfriend named Henry.

Sherman understudies Gabe and Henry.

“Gabe is really a meaty role,” Sherman said. “It’s amazing, because when you are playing the role, it’s all about her (Diana). He’s another personality of hers. It’s the classic idea of a person who is introverted — it’s their alter ego who makes the decisions, even if they aren’t the right decisions. He’s always there to try and stir things up.

“Henry is like completely opposite. He’s there for Natalie. He stays and he really works to help.”

Rehearsals for the National Tour began in September and it opened in Los Angeles in November, Sherman said.

Because of the nature of the show — definitely not your typical, lighthearted musical — it is draining emotionally, physically and vocally, because most of the story is told through songs.

“It’s all very woven together, all very operatic,” Sherman explained. “It’s a rock musical and almost entirely sung. It’s very powerful.”

While the subject matter is serious, he said the show “has a very sharp sense of humor. We have a lot of people who come to the show and may have experienced mental illness, thoughts of suicide or the death of a child.

“You need to have a handle on it, not have it swept under the rug like Diana, a woman who has a mental illness but doesn’t know how to be herself and be bipolar,” Sherman said.

In addition to Diana, “Next to Normal” features Asa Somers as her husband Dan, Curt Hansen as Gabe, Preston Sadleir as Henry, Emma Hunton as Natalie and Jeremy Kushnier as Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine.

For those experiencing “Next to Normal” for the first time, Sherman said expect to leave the theater talking about it.

“It’s really a play with music,” he said. In further explanation, he said at the stage door last Wednesday night was a girl from Germany who came to the U.S. and planned her trip around the tour. “She had seen the show nine times,” he said.

“The music is memorable. You really have to listen to the words, they are so important,” Sherman emphasized. “Dan has issues, too. He’s definitely grief-stricken. He’s very sweet, and he’s there for Diana. He tries so hard to fix her, that he doesn’t have time to fix himself.”

Tickets range from $21 to $57.

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