Other stops for "The Normal Heart" on tour?

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 6/30/12 at 1:38am

If they have been announced, I give my sincerest apologies because I am just NOT finding it. Have other stops been announced for The Normal Heart? I was hoping to see it next week but I don't think I'm going to get to DC.


Thanks!

[welcometothetheater]

Posted: 6/30/12 at 2:33am

This article seems to indicate that there won't be any stops beyond D.C. and San Francisco:

"There were plans to put together a national tour, but those did not pan out. Road presenters are always nervous of plays and most need to book venues for 2,500 people or more. So with a more extensive tour off the table, the show just struck a deal to play in Washington and San Francisco."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ott-0629-jones-loop-20120627,0,265545.story

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 6/30/12 at 2:41am

Could you copy that article for us? That pop-up makes it impossible to read and clicking "no thanks" redirects to the main page.

[anmiller07]

Posted: 6/30/12 at 2:48am

On very rare occasions, a night at the theater can feel like a red-hot political event. Such was the case last year on Broadway, where the fevered revival of Larry Kramer's seminal AIDS drama "The Normal Heart" burned up the Golden Theatre, even as the ever-angry playwright stood on the sidewalk outside, handing out fliers about the disease. Both John Benjamin Hickey and Ellen Barkin delivered riveting performances.

That same production has been in the news again this week, after opening to rave reviews in Washington. Kramer, who is not known for being shy, has both been enjoying his victory lap in Washington and engaging in a public spat with Barbra Streisand, who held the movie rights for years but never actually made the film. There is now to be a film, thanks to Ryan Murphy, the creator of "Glee." The cast is to include Julia Roberts, Mark Ruffalo and Alec Baldwin. Kramer is about as happy as Kramer ever gets. Meanwhile, Mantello's production is headed to San Francisco.

You can probably guess where it's not headed: Chicago.

How ridiculous, given the size of the theater-loving gay population and given Kramer's own long-standing relationship with the city (as I well remember, he worked quite extensively here with the now-defunct Bailiwick Repertory Theater in the 1990s).

There were plans to put together a national tour, but those did not pan out. Road presenters are always nervous of plays and most need to book venues for 2,500 people or more. So with a more extensive tour off the table, the show just struck a deal to play in Washington and San Francisco.

My point here is that Chicago always needs to be in on those deals. Most of the time, we're not. We can't change the overall taste of the road, but we can make sure we are in that tiny group of cities that supports such projects. A similar situation evolved with "Other Desert Cities"(the Broadway production is going to Los Angeles), "Follies" (which just closed in Los Angeles) and "God of Carnage" (which went to LA in 2011, replete with Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden). On June 27, Susan Stroman will restage her underrated Broadway production of "The Scottsboro Boys" in San Francisco, another production Chicago needed to see.

We have the theaters: "The Normal Heart" would have looked great in the Broadway Playhouse, and would have done a lot more for local edification and emotional stimulation than"Rock of Ages."And in the case of the Kramer play, I'm convinced we have the audience. It just needs a producer or presenter to step up. Broadway in Chicago could do that. So could one of the big nonprofits.

The counterargument, of course, is that Chicago has institutions that like to mount their own productions of recent hits. I'm all for that. And, in some cases, they have improved on the original Broadway productions (Chuck Smith's production of "Race" this season at the Goodman Theatre, for instance).

But sometimes — and "The Normal Heart" is a prima facie example — Chicago audiences deserve to see the original production. Just like San Francisco and LA, which also have their own thriving theater scenes that are energized by the arrival of such shows.

And although it's fashionable to bash stars taking all the roles on Broadway, I'm of the view that many (not all) of those stars are stars because they are fine actors. In Chicago, stars on a local stage are very few and far between, Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy notwithstanding. The occasional appearance of actors like Barkin in Chicago only grow potential audiences for Chicago's plethora of fine theaters.

Conventional wisdom here is that stars don't tour anymore. That's true enough, but when I read about the declining ratings for the Tony Awards earlier this month, I was thinking that the Broadway League would be well-advised to pay more attention to taking its premiere straight-play attractions — as distinct from cheap non-Equity tours of musicals — to more of the country. If people actually thought they had a chance to see James Earl Jones in "Driving Miss Daisy" or Debra Winger in David Mamet's "The Anarchist," maybe they'd tune in to the Tony Awards.

In the current situation, you're much more likely to see one of those shows in London than in Chicago. Some pressure could be put on producers, for the good of the industry, which wants to be a national brand. Perhaps some of those fancy agents looking to find a prestige Broadway gig for one of their clients might buy the negotiation that such a gig must include a few weeks beyond Midtown.

LA, which offers stars exposure to the film world, is often an easier sell. But Chicago, where we are supposed to be masters of clout, has to exert some pressure to stay in that little clutch of cities that get the boutique attractions. There's no reason "The Normal Heart" should be playing Washington and then flying over our town, where it would have been supported and educated a whole new generation of Chicagoans.

[anmiller07]

Posted: 6/30/12 at 2:52am

This makes me really sad....now I HAVE to get to DC before July is over.

[ElphabaGoodman]

Posted: 6/30/12 at 7:41pm

Wow, just saw this last Sunday! Really glad I did so, now that the tour will not be continuing past San Francisco! If you are on the east coast and able to see it in DC, I HIGHLY recommend doing so.

[jazzynat]

Posted: 6/30/12 at 9:06pm

On the plus side I'm very happy its coming to SF. Saw it in NYC and excited to see it again.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 7/1/12 at 7:18am

Maybe it's this cast that is going to London? Wishful thinking, I know...