The Normal Heart Tickets : The Normal Heart Was Named One Of The Greatest Plays Of The 20th Century

The Normal Heart is a semi-autobiographical play by Larry Kramer. It focuses on the rise of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay Jewish founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group.

Ned prefers loud public confrontations to the calmer, more private strategies favored by his associates, friends, and closeted lover Felix Turner, none of whom are prepared to throw themselves into the media spotlight. Their differences of opinion lead to frequent arguments that threaten to undermine their mutual goal.

Produced by Joseph Papp and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the play opened Off-Broadway at The Public Theater on April 21, 1985 and ran for 294 performances. The original cast included Brad Davis as Ned and D.W. Moffett as Felix, with David Allen Brooks and Concetta Tomei in supporting roles.

Joel Grey replaced Davis later in the run. In subsequent productions of the play, Ned Weeks was portrayed by Richard Dreyfuss in Los Angeles, Martin Sheen, Tom Hulce and John Shea in London,and Raul Esparza in a 2004 Off-Broadway revival directed by David Esbjornson at the Public.

Kramer wrote a sequel about Ned Weeks in 1992, The Destiny of Me.The Broadway premiere of The Normal Heart begins on April 19, 2011 for a limited 12-week engagement at the Golden Theatre. This production will use elements employed in a staged reading, directed by Joel Grey, held in October 2010.

The cast features Joe Mantello as Ned, Ellen Barkin as Dr. Brookner, John Benjamin Hickey as Felix,Lee Pace as Bruce Niles, and Jim Parsons as Tommy Boatwright. Joel Grey is making his Broadway directing debut; George C. Wolfe is supervising director. The production supports several "nonprofit organizations, including The Actors Fund and Friends In Deed."

Jack Kroll of Newsweek called it "extraordinary" and added, "It is bracing and exciting to hear so much passion and intelligence. Kramer produces a cross fire of life-and-death energies that create a fierce and moving human drama." In the New York Daily News, Liz Smith said, "An astounding drama . . . a damning indictment of a nation in the middle of an epidemic with its head in the sand.

It will make your hair stand on end even as the tears spurt from your eyes." Rex Reed stated, "No one who cares about the future of the human race can afford to miss The Normal Heart,"while director Harold Prince commented, "I haven't been this involved - upset - in too damn long. Kramer honors us with this stormy, articulate theatrical work."

On the day The Normal Heart opened, a spokesman for The New York Times addressed statements in the play about the newspaper's failure to give the disease adequate coverage. He said that as soon as The Times became aware of AIDS, it assigned a member of the science staff to cover the story, and his article appeared on July 3, 1981, making The Times "one of the first - if not the first - national news media to alert the public to the scientific recognition and spread of the disease."

He also cited a later full-length report in The New York Times Magazine about recent discoveries made by researchers.When asked about his negative portrayal in The Normal Heart, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch said through a spokesman, "I haven't seen the play. But I hope it's as good as As Is, which is superb."

In 2000, the Royal National Theatre named The Normal Heart one of the 100 greatest plays of the 20th century.In his 2004 book, How to Do the History of Homosexuality, David Halperin criticized the character of Ned Weeks for surrendering to "gay chauvinism" and "homosexual essentialism" through "various strategies of elitism and exclusion" when he lists renowned homosexuals he considers part of his culture.