The Normal Heart 1st Preview- Page 8

[scott68]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 11:10am

Well, this thread went downhill fast.

[topherkraz78]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 11:12am

How do you figure that? I was asking a simple security question. What the hell is wrong with that? I would like to attend one of this plays someday but yes as I've stated before I have not been to Broadway.

[DonelBee]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 11:22am

"That's true. No Broadway show has ever been filmed before, not even the four that have been on HBO this season or the two that are going to be in movie theaters in the next few months."

Jordan -- Your irony (and facts) in the above post obviously went over the heads of the later posters!

[willep]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 11:42am

Wow... (and no, I haven't gotten to see the show yet, so that's not what I am in awe by...)

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 11:48am

Back on topic, for anyone interested - I just spoke to Triton Gallery and was told windowcards will be arriving this week!!!

[uptowndowntown]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 11:52am

Mantello, Pacino, Rylance, Cannavale, Bedford, Robin Williams - what a great year for male lead performances! And the women this year are incredible too - Barkin, Nina Arianda, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Lily Rabe, Edie Falco, etc. And if we talk about off-broadway this season too? The list goes on and on - Laurie Metcalf, Deidre O'Connell, Tyne Daly, Stockard Channing, Elizabeth Marvel, etc etc etc. Save your money! See everything this year! It's the return of the non-musical.

[topherkraz78]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 12:09pm

Yeah, thanks for your answer Jordan and closed minded attitude. Sorry I am not a 'Broadway Legend' like you! Too bad you are not open to allow newbies in your little world. *shakes head*

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 12:17pm

Not a problem. Take care.

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 12:19pm

Great news about the windowcard! I really need one.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 2:02pm

topher, just ignore Jordan. You haven't done anything wrong in this thread. If having a famous actor (who, might I add, is great in this role! And as it's really just a small supporting role, no one can claim it's any kind of "stunt casting") brings in an audience that would otherwise be unfamiliar with Broadway shows, then I think that's a great thing! People here moan all the time about how there are so many great plays that don't find an audience.

To answer your questions about filming, occasionally a show will be filmed for a TV broadcast (or like MEMPHIS, a limited release in movie theaters.) It has nothing to do with illegal bootlegs made by audience members.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 2:12pm

Yeah...just ignore me. Harumph!

[Roscoe]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 2:30pm

I saw THE NORMAL HEART last night, like apparently a lot of BWWers, and was very impressed with it overall. The first act felt a bit talky, a few too many fact-laden speeches, but the second act really kicked into high gear. I don't see how anyone, except Newt Gingrich or Nancy Reagan or Pat Buchanan, wouldn't be deeply moved by it.

I'd only seen the other revival, the one a few years back with Raul Esparza. Interesting to compare the two production, they both had considerable strengths. The current production really comes out ahead in one important element -- John Benjamin Hickey's very affecting performance as Felix.

I haven't gone back over the entire thread here, but has anyone noticed any changes to the play? Mr. Kramer seems to have allowed a significant change to the play's final moment.

[Pomita]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 2:40pm

Cape Twirl, thanks a lot for bringing up a relevant point which I was itching to point out but didn't because I felt so done with posting here. At the very least, I believe Parson's presence will sell some additional tickets, bringing in ignorant people like us who then get to take away something from a powerful play with a strong social message. That can't be such a bad thing.

[scott68]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 3:03pm

Joan Rivers saw the show last night and loved it, per her Twitter:

@joanrivers: Another amazing night on Broadway. Saw @thenormalheart and then look who I mingled with afterwards. WOW! http://twitpic.com/4prpeq

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/26/11 at 3:26pm

Just got tickets for Friday the 13th, based pretty much on the good comments in this thread and FB postings by people who has just seen it.

I was going to avoid this because the original production will forever be seared in my memory, because it and William Hoffman's As Is (which opened around the same time) were beautifully written plays that seemed like documentaries of the lives we were living. I had lost two friends by early 1985, and one was still healthy enough to be an understudy in As Is, but would would soon be counted among the lost boys. I can't even estimate the number or percentage of friends who were sick.

When Brad Davis, the throbbingly beautiful actor who played Ned, died of AIDS in 1991 (actually of assisted suicide), memories of the production took on an additionally sad and ironic life-imitating-art aspect. From 1985 when the two plays opened to 1995, when the new meds started to roll out, AIDS was just ubiquitous--everywhere we looked, someone else was getting sick.

And Larry and Ned's anger was how we felt--or how we felt we ought to feel when all we felt was tired of being angry, tired of being careful, tired of getting tested, tired of going to hospitals, tired of going to memorial services.

I've come to accept that I will be disappointed by almost any revival of a play or musical that thrilled me when I was younger. They used to make me angry, but unlike Larry Kramer, I grow less angry as I grow older. It's not how I feel about a revival, in the scheme of things--it's about how someone with no history reacts to it.

So I was really surprised and impressed over the past few days as I started to hear people talk about the show and use terms like "moved" and "shell-shocked" and "made me think about my life and who I am."

All those comments are from people who were too young to know what people my age were going through...or not even born yet!

So I bought two tickets. And I hope it runs longer.