The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center and veteran stage, television and film actor David Youse are joining forces with Oscar® and Tony Award-winner Joel Grey to present the historic, 25th anniversary staged reading of Larry Kramer’s classic drama, The Normal Heart. This extraordinary celebrity reading, featuring some of the finest actors working today, will take place at Westwood’s Geffen Playhouse at 8 p.m. on Monday, May 17.
Proceeds from the one-night-only event will benefit the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic, which provides quality, free or low-cost medical care for people living with HIV/AIDS (this event does not benefit the Geffen Playhouse). Tickets may be purchased at: www.lagaycenter.org/thenormalheart.
The cast features Emmy® Award-winner Lisa Kudrow, in the key role of Dr. Emma Brookner, Clark Gregg (The New Adventures of Old Christine) as Ben and David Eigenberg (Sex in the City) as Mickey. Additions to the cast will be announced in the coming days.
Among the countless highlights of Joel Grey’s nearly sixty-year career is his starring role in the original production of The Normal Heart, in which he played the central role of Ned, based semi-autobiographically on Mr. Kramer himself. This experience accords Mr. Grey an incomparable insight into the play, as well as a passionate commitment to the piece and to the issue it revolutionized: the AIDS epidemic.
VIP ticket holders receive special, reserved seating and an invitation to a pre-performance reception, as well as an after-party reception with the cast. Mid-range ticket-holders gain preferred seating in the orchestra.
The Normal Heart focuses on the terrifying early years of the AIDS epidemic in New York and the criminal silence of official America in dealing with it. First produced by Joseph Papp and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg for New York’s Public Theater, the play was a critical sensation and ran for 294 performances.
Frank Rich in the New York Times wrote of the original production, “The stage seethes with the conflict of impassioned, literally life-and-death argument.” In his Newsweek review, Jack Kroll called it, “Extraordinary ... a fierce and moving human drama.” Other responses included Liz Smith in the New York Daily News: "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;" while legendary director Harold Prince stated, "I haven't been this involved - upset - in too damn long. Kramer honors us with this stormy, articulate theatrical work."
Commenting on a 2004 production, CurtainUp reflected on both the play’s artistic staying power and its lamentable continuing relevance: “The Normal Heart still has the power to move audiences to tears (it did this reviewer!). Unlike so many agitprop dramas which tend to be of the moment, this one lives on as a full-blown tragedy which is, unfortunately, relevant not only vis-à-vis the H.I.V./AIDS plague but the added parallels to world issues that cry for leaders unafraid to speak out.”
WHAT: THE NORMAL HEART
25th Anniversary staged reading
Written by Larry Kramer
Directed by Joel Grey
Produced by the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center and David Youse
Benefiting the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic
Proceeds from this event do not benefit Geffen Playhouse
WHERE: The Geffen Playhouse
10886 Le Conte Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90024-3021
WHEN: Monday, May 17 at 8 p.m.
Pre-performance reception at 6 p.m.
TICKETS: VIP $250 (Includes reserved seating and pre- and post-show receptions)
$100 (Includes preferred seating)
$50 (General admission)
Available on-line at www.lagaycenter.org/thenormalheart.
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