The Normal Heart Unexpectedly Ends Run

The Worth Street Theater production of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart will unexpectedly end its run at the Public Theater tonight, June 29, due to weak ticket sales, a production spokesperson confirms to Broadway.com. The show, which was originally supposed to close on May 16, had been extended through August 15 amid rumors of a Broadway transfer.

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 Lisa Kron, the cast of this production of The Normal Heart also features Richard Bekins, Fred Berman, McCaleb Burnett, Mark Dobies, Jay Russell, Billy Warlock and Paul Whitthorne.

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."

The Normal Heart went on hiatus from June 1 through June 13, during which time original lead Joanna Gleason who had to leave because of scheduling issues was replaced by Kron.