Mike Fleming

New York, NY – Producer Daryl Roth announced today that Emmy Award nominee Lee Pace (“Pushing Daisies”) and Emmy and Golden Globe-winner Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang Theory”) have joined the cast of Larry Kramer’s ground-breaking play, The Normal Heart. In their Broadway debuts, Pace will play Bruce Niles and Parsons will play Tommy Boatwright, joining the previously announced Joe Mantello as Ned Weeks, Ellen Barkin as Dr. Emma Brookner and John Benjamin Hickey as Felix Turner. Joel Grey will direct the production, which begins its limited 12-week engagement on Tuesday, April 19 at the John Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street), with an official opening night set for Wednesday, April 27.

The story of a city in denial, The Normal Heart unfolds like a real-life political thriller — as a tight-knit group of friends refuses to let doctors, politicians and the press bury the truth of an unspoken epidemic behind a wall of silence. First produced by Joseph Papp at New York’s Public Theater, the play was a critical sensation and a seminal moment in theater history. So ahead of its time was this play that many of the core issues it addresses – including gay marriage, the healthcare system and, of course, AIDS – are just as relevant today as they were when it first premiered.