Theater News

Ellen Barkin, John Benjamin Hickey, Joe Mantello to Star in Broadway Production of The Normal Heart

Joe Mantello
(© Tristan Fuge)
Joe Mantello
(© Tristan Fuge)

Ellen Barkin, Joe Mantello, and John Benjamin Hickey will star in a Broadway revival of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart. Joel Grey will direct the production, scheduled to begin performances at the Golden Theatre on April 19 before opening on April 27.

The play focuses on the terrifying early years of the AIDS epidemic in New York. It was originally produced by the Public Theatre in 1985 and was revived there in 2004.

Mantello will star as Ned Weeks, Hickey will play his lover, Felix Turner, and Barkin will play Dr. Emma Brookner, the wheelchair-bound doctor who recognizes the seriousness of the AIDS crisis. Additional casting will be announced shortly.

A staged reading of the play, directed by Grey and starring Mantello and Hickey, was seen on Broadway last year as a benefit for The Actors Fund.


Barkin appeared on stage in the benefit Short Talks on the Universe. She is well known for her film work including Sea of Love, Switch, The Big Easy, and Desert Bloom. She received an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe nomination for her work in Before Women Had Wings.


As an actor, Mantello received a Tony Award nomination for his performance in Angels in America. In addition, he has received Tony Awards for his direction of Assassins and Take Me Out. Among his other directorial credits are Wicked and Other Desert Cities.


Hickey’s many stage credits include Love! Valour! Compassion!, Cabaret, The Crucible, and Mary Stuart on Broadway, and Blue Window and God’s Heart Off-Broadway.

Along with initial casting, it has been announce that a percentage of the production’s weekly profits will be donated to a group of dedicated nonprofit organizations, including The Actors Fund and Friends In Deed, among others, and that the production will develop a special partnership with amfAR.


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