TheaterMania - 26/June/2012

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SPECIAL REPORT: Four Capital Ideas For Theatergoers
Reviews of First You Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Music Man and The Normal Heart.

By Brian Scott Lipton • Jun 26, 2012 • Washington, DC

Patricia Wettig and Patrick Breen

inThe Normal Heart

(© Scott Suchman)

With Independence Day just around the corner, a trip to our nation's capitol is certainly in order. And in addition to checking out the Smithsonian, the Capitol, or the Lincoln Memorial, visitors to (or residents of) Washington, D.C. have four fine theatrical options to add to their to-do list.

The political and the personal collide with devastating effect in Larry Kramer's powerful and passionate 1985 play, The Normal Heart, about the early years of the AIDS crisis, now launching its national tour at Arena Stage. Part history lesson, part cautionary tale, and part call to continuing action, this thinly disguised autobiographical work focuses on the efforts of crusading journalist Ned Weeks (Patrick Breen) to get New York's gay community -- as well as its government and media -- to pay attention to the mysterious disease that is rapidly claiming the lives of gay men.

Ned is sparked into his quest by no-nonsense, paraplegic physician Emma Brookner (Patricia Wettig), but Ned's pleas to having his gay brethren to follow her exhortation to stop having sex altogether -- as well as his hair-trigger temper -- eventually alienates him from fellow activists Bruce Niles (Nick Mennell), Mickey Marcus (an excellent Michael Berresse), and Tommy Boatwright (the very fine Christopher J. Hanke), and even his beloved older brother, Ben (John Procaccino). His dedication to the cause is only intensified when his lover, New York Times reporter Felix Turner (Luke MacFarlane), contracts the mysterious, life-threatening illness.

While the entire cast -- most notably, Breen, MacFarlane, and Wettig -- gives highly committed and extremely intelligent performances, director George C. Wolfe or restaging director Leah C. Gardiner has turned the intensity level down a bit from the Tony Award-winning Broadway production -- which is probably a conscious choice to accommodate the intimate Kreeger Theatre. But Kramer's play is meant to be a loud polemic, and the occasional subtleness of these performances slightly lessens the great work's impact.