The Normal Heart Goes On Two Week Hiatus

The Worth Street Theater production of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart is taking a two week hiatus. Performances of the drama have been cancelled from June 1 through June 13 due to scheduling and casting issues, according to a production spokesperson.

The Normal Heart is set during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. The play lashes out at a society that allowed fear and ignorance to control AIDS-related policies.

Headlined by Raúl Esparza and Joanna Gleason, the cast of this production of The Normal Heart also currently features Richard Bekins, Fred Berman, McCaleb Burnett, Mark Dobies, Jay Russell, Billy Warlock and Paul Whitthorne. It is unknown at this time how many of these cast members will remain for the entire run now that the show has extended through August. A production spokesperson confirmed that some stars do indeed have other commitments. As we reported earlier today, one such star is Gleason, who has to start rehearsals for the pre-Broadway tryout of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in July.

This mounting, directed by David Esbjornson who took over for Jeff Cohen mid-rehearsals, received mixed-to-positive reviews when it opened at the Public Theater on April 21. In his Broadway.com Review of the show, William Stevenson wrote: "Larry Kramer's sad, seething drama The Normal Heart first opened at the Public Theater on April 21, 1985. Exactly 19 years later, the play is back at the Public Theater in a production by the Worth Street Theater Company, and it's as powerful as ever. Searing and heartbreaking, The Normal Heart still makes audiences get angry and cry--which is exactly what Kramer intended."