It wasn’t just a play. It was Kramer firing warning shots across the bow of apathy by wrapping it in an entertainment. With this play AIDS become tangible for those who had previously relied on what little news coverage there was on a regular basis, or worse, thought it was just the disease that infected gay men. Through his writing, the failings of the Reagan Administration became more than politics, they became a catastrophe that was measured death by death.

I first saw The Normal Heart when I was in my mid-20s. In late 1985 there was a production in Los Angeles that starred Richard Dreyfuss, Bruce Davison and Kathy Bates. Lacking any personal experience with AIDS, I was profoundly moved and fiercely angered.

The play also presented a dilemma for me. Do I come out as a gay man when the identity of gay men was tied to an incurable disease? Do I spend more time in the closet because my own shame wouldn’t allow me to join in anything more than quiet solidarity? Could not acting on my sexuality save my life? I’m not proud of the decision I made.

In 2011 I went to see the first Broadway production of The Normal Heart. The emotion that the entire audience experienced was more heartbreaking than I had remembered from 1985. We had navigated our way out of the crisis but never fully solved it. When the names of those who died from HIV/AIDS were projected on the walls of the stage at the plays’ conclusion, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Never had I seen an audience move so quietly from the theater onto the streets of the city. Their silence was deafening, but it was finally the right silence.

At the Tony Awards that season, Kramer was finally acknowledged for his work as a playwright when the production won for Best Revival of a Play.

Six years ago I interviewed Dreyfuss about his experiences in the play just as the HBO movie of The Normal Heart was about to premiere. Here’s what he had to say about the experience of introducing audiences in Los Angeles to Larry Kramer and his work.

“It’s a pretty exciting thing to provoke an audience into demanding that they listen and watch and they did. The whole play is a scream of empathy and love and it doesn’t matter that he’s an irritant. Look at what he’s fighting. Anyone with a brain knows that this is a man who is grieving over the loss of his own. Larry himself is more willing to go toe-to-toe with people. He may have a posture, he can misinterpret a phrase and take it as something to ignite, but for the most part he’s a sweet gentleman.”

The lion who was also “a sweet gentleman” passed away yesterday. Just as the world is confronting another pandemic that, in many governments around the world, is being met once again with apathy and indifference.

Though I never met Kramer, I imagine if I asked him about the state of the world today he would say, “We just never learn.” Through his own battles with HIV and liver disease Kramer never stopped fighting. He never stopped advocating. He never stopped pissing people off. Just as we need better leaders, the world could use more people like Larry Kramer.

Photo of Larry Kramer by David Shankbone/Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

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This is a production with a lot of statistics going for it. First it is the 25th production of a McNally play. Amongst McNally’s other plays and/or books of musicals are Kiss of the Spider Woman, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class and Ragtime (he won Tony Awards for all four shows.)

The last two titles are significant in that they both featured Audra McDonald. Frankie and Johnny… marks McDonald’s 12th Broadway show. Amongst the shows she’s appeared in are Secret Garden, Henry IV  and Shuffle Along, Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed. I mention those three shows because they are the only ones for which she was not nominated for a Tony Award. Amongst her 8 nominations she has 6 wins – more than any other actress. Her wins came in all four possible categories: Lead Actress in a Play, Lead Actress in a Musical, Featured Actress in a Play and Featured Actress in a Musical

This is Michael Shannon’s third Broadway show. He was Tony nominated for his performance in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night opposite Gabriel Byrne and Jessica Lange.

Arin Arbus makes her directorial debut with Frankie & Johnny.. She is a resident artist at Theatre for a New Audience. She counts Shakespeare, opera and plays both old and new amongst her credits.

Frankie & Johnny had its premiere 32 years ago at Manhattan Theatre Club. The cast was Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham. A Broadway production did not happen until 2002 when Eddie Falco and Stanley Tucci. That production was also at the Broadhurst Theatre. It was made into a film in 1991 starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino.

This is a limited production scheduled to run through July 28th. Official opening night is May 30th (making it ineligible for this year’s Tony Awards – in case you were wondering.)

For tickets go here.

Of interest:  A documentary about McNally called Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life will air as part of the American Masters series on PBS. It is scheduled to run June 14th

Main image: Michael Shannon and Audra McDonald in Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune. (Photo by Deen van Meer)

Update:  This post has been updated to include the revised closing date of July 28th.

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