Patrick Breen and Luke MacFarlane Join Joe Mantello in Broadway's The Normal Heart

Patrick Breen and Luke MacFarlane have joined the cast of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart on Broadway, playing Mickey Marcus and Craig Donner/Grady, respectively. They join the previously announced Joe Mantello as Ned Weeks, Ellen Barkin as Dr. Emma Brookner, John Benjamin Hickey as Felix Turner, Lee Pace as Bruce Niles and Jim Parsons as Tommy Boatwright. The play will begin a limited 12-week engagement at the Golden Theatre on April 19 and open on April 27, directed by Anything Goes star Joel Grey with assistance from George C. Wolfe.

Breen has appeared on Broadway in Brighton Beach Memoirs and Next Fall, in which he also starred off-Broadway. Other off-Broadway credits include Celebration and the Room, Fiddy Meers, View of the Dome and Night and Her Stars. MacFarlane is making his Broadway debut in The Normal Heart. He is best known for his role on television hit Brothers & Sisters; his off-Broadway credits include The Busy World Is Hushed, Juvenilia and Where Do We Live.

The Normal Heart unfolds like a real-life political thriller as a tight-knit group of friends refuses to let doctors, politicians and the press bury the truth of an unspoken epidemic behind a wall of silence. The play premiered at the Public Theater on April 21, 1985, for a run of 294 performances. The late Brad Davis opened as Ned and was later replaced by Grey. The play was revived at the Public in 2004 with Raul Esparza as Ned.

The design team includes David Rockwell (sets), Martin Pakledinaz (costumes), David Weiner (lighting), David Van Tieghem (sound), and Batwin & Robin (projections).