The Normal Heart Set to Sear Hearts Once More

*From the PR of TNT

Photo credits: Vladimeir Gonzales

The recent, very-limited run Larry Kramer’s “The Normal Heart” by the Necessary Theatre wasamong the year’s most acclaimed theatrical productions. It was called “important,” “indispensible,” “necessary” theatre. Critics hailed the acting, direction, and design. It drew raves from a very wide spectrum of audiences, theatergoers and non-theatergoers alike.

But for all the praise the various aspects of the play received, the two most common sentiments expressed were, how the play awakened the viewer to the HIV crisis in our own country and that a repeat of the show was imperative.

“The Normal Heart,” Larry Kramer’s powerful autobiographical piece about the struggle to get attention to AIDS as a real health crisis, made its Off-Broadway debut in 1985 and gained international attention when it was voted one of the most important plays of the 20^th Century by London’s National Theater. It made its long-overdue Broadway debut in 2011 in a universally acclaimed production followed by a multi-awarded, highly praised HBO movie in 2014.

When The Necessary Theatre’s artistic director Bart Guingona originally wanted to stage the play, years before its 2011 Broadway incarnation, it was based solely on the piece’s dramatic potential. He likened it to the social realism plays of Ibsen, Odets, and Miller. In 2014, Guingona ran across Philippine HIV statistics in a news item and realized that present-day Manila was a frightening mirror of 1981 New York.  He was determined to stage the play as an important cautionary tale reflecting our own times.

But, alas, staging a play about something as unpleasant as HIV and the fight against a system that ignores it was a hard sell to potential backers. Luckily, long time TNT supporter Taal Vista Hotel stepped in to help realize the project, albeit for just 5 performances. It was a much talked about, much praised 5-show run and the clamor did not abate until this restaging was announced.

The original Asian premiere of “The Normal Heart” is back with 8 performances starring the original cast in its original venue. Of Roselyn Perez playing the polio-stricken Dr. Emma Brookner, one critic gushed that she“was jaw-dropping in (her) intensity.” Topper Fabregas playing Felix was similarly praised for his “splendid” portrayal of a man stricken with the disease. TJ Trinidad in his theatrical debut turns in a “superb, self-assured” performance according to one critic while Nor Domingo “blew us away” according to another. Richard Cunanan’s performance was called “perfect”; Jef Flores was “terrific in his various roles”; Red Concepcion plays “funny Tommy Boatwright” as “relatable and real” and Bart Guingona “filled the stage with his intensity.” It was a production, in short, that elicited universal acclaim.

The Normal Heart, #TheNormalHeartMNL, made possible once more byTaal Vista Hotel is producedwith special arrangement from Samuel French Inc. Show dates are on October 2, 3, 9, 10 and 11at 8pm with 3pm matinees on October 4, 10 and 11. Venue is at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati. For tickets and information, call Ticketworld at 891-9999 or text 09285072924/09175378313. Like Facebook/The Necessary Theatre and follow on Twitter @AAITNT.#TheNormalHeartMNL. Visit the official website at http://thenormalheartmnl.jimdo.com.