Sunday, May 22, 2011

Theater Review: The Normal Heart

Joe Mantello and John Benjamin Hickey. Photo credit Joan Marcus


After Almost Three Decades, the Message Still is Relevant
By Lauren Yarger
HIV continues to infect a growing numbers of people every year. There is no cure. Those statements, true in 2011, haven’t changed since we first heard them uttered three decades ago about a then new and mysterious disease.

The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer’s play about efforts to educate the gay community about the dangers of having sex and about trying to get governmental funding to study the disease is just as relevant in today’s Broadway production as it was when it was staged in New York back in 1985.

The play chronicles the efforts of Ned Weeks (Joe Mantello), urged by Dr. Emma Brookner (Ellen Barkin) to get the message out about the AIDS plague she is witnessing to those in his homosexual community and to the New York Times. The victim of another plague, polio, which has left her in a wheel chair, Bookner isn’t sure what she is dealing with, but she’s pretty sure the disease is being transmitted sexually and she wants to keep it from spreading.

No one is paying attention, however, since the disease only seems to be targeting gays – a term The Times won’t even use except in quoted text. Gays are a political hot potato too and the mayor’s office won’t meet with Ned or the members of the advocacy group he forms (in real life, Kramer founded the Gay Men’s Health Crisis).

Ned is the most outspoken of the group, and the most willing to be identified with a gay cause, but board members Bruce Niles (Lee Pace), Tommy Boatright (Jim Parsons) and Mickey Marcus (Patrick Breen) feel he is too militant and offensive in his blunt speaking to serve as their president. Ned’s message that there is a need for abstinence doesn’t sit well with them either and it becomes even more personal when Ned finds himself falling in love with a fashion writer at the Times, Felix Turner (John Benjamin Hickey), who also contracts the disease.

Also unable to lend his full support to Ned’s cause is his brother, Ben (Mark Harelik), a high-powered attorney who loves his brother, but who is embarrassed by the lifestyle he has chosen. Some great dialogue between the two ensues when Ben can’t give Ned the personal validation of his lifestyle he so desires or even a statement that gays are just as “normal” as he.

“Please stop trying to ring an admission of guilt,” Ben pleads.

“You still think I am sick,” Ned counters. “And I can’t accept that any more.”

Sounds like a conversation two brothers could have today. In fact, a lot of the piece is very relevant – maybe even more so now, with its references to gay marriage which must have seemed almost an impossibility when the play was written.

When the disease first reared its head, and when Ned becomes aware of it in 1981, 41 people had died. Today, the number stands at more than 35 million worldwide. Drugs have slowed, but not defeated the disease. Names of those who have died are projected onto the white, phrase-chiseled walls (David Rockwell, scenic design) linking the past with the present. It’s a stark reminder that while a lot of time has passed, some of the most compelling issues around the disease still bring a lot of hurt, division and questions.

The Normal Heart plays through July 10, 2011 at the Golden Theatre, 252 West 45th St., NYC. Discounted tickets are available at http://www.givenik.com/show_info.php/Masterworks/313/individual.

Christians might also might like to know:
Show posts a MATURE advisory
Language
God’s name taken in vain
Homosexual activity
Sexual dialogue

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Gracewell Prodiuctions

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Our reviews are professional reviews written without a religious bias. At the end of them, you can find a listing of language, content or theological issues that Christians might want to know about when deciding which shows to see.

** Mature indicates that the show has posted an advisory because of content. Usually this means I would recommend no one under the age of 16 attend.

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists. Her play concept, "From Reel to Real: The Jennifer O'Neill Story" was presented as part of the League of professional Theatre Women's Julia's reading Room Series in New York. Shifting from reviewing to producing, Yarger owns Gracewell Productions, which produced the Table Reading Series at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. She trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Intensive and other training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run. She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She wrote reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/.

She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She was a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com. She previously served as theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer, Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

She is a Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a former vice president and voting member of The Drama Desk.

She is a freelance writer and playwright (member Dramatists Guild of America). She is a member if the The Outer Critics Circle (producer of the annual awards ceremony) and a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women, serving as Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter. Yarger was a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

Copyright

All material is copyright 2008- 2024 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.

Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.

Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.

Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.

Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.

Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.

Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.

Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.

Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.

Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.

Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Derogatory (category added Fall 2012) Language or circumstances where women or people of a certain race are referred to or treated in a negative and demeaning manner.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide, or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Reviewing Policy

I receive free seats to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle. Journalistically, I provide an unbiased review and am under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows my readers want to know about I will purchase a ticket. If a personal friend is involved in a production, I'll let you know, but it won't influence a review. If I feel there is a conflict, I won't review their portion of the production.

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