Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...So the experience of watching Bowling's production is partly a feeling of: Look how far we have come. For those of us who saw that stunning revival in 2011, the play's resilience, as a record of a moment and a beautiful howl of rage, is no surprise. But most of the audience at TimeLine will not have seen that production, and will be surprised by the potency and lyricism (the sweet song of anger!) of Kramer's script, which will, in time, become a seminal dramatic work, a telling of a revolution born in pain."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Director Nick Bowling has gathered a starry Chicago cast for his TimeLine production and the results are breathtaking. And in this fast, furious and impassioned rendering - with playful disco music of the period counterpointed by projections of the virus, and by the repeated "reveal" of the purple rashes that were as good as a death warrant - Kramer's drama seems only to have gained in power.
At the center of "The Normal Heart" is Kramer's alter ego, Ned Weeks (played by David Cromer, whose brilliance as an actor has recently been overshadowed by his success as a director). Gay and Jewish, self-loathing and self-righteous, and unusually censorious of the promiscuity he has seen (and to some extent engaged in himself), Weeks has no tolerance for a careful approach to what he sensed as catastrophic from the start. The question arises: Is his confrontational style counterproductive? In retrospect you realize he was almost messianic."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...In between GMHC and ACT UP, Kramer wrote The Normal Heart: a play about a notoriously argumentative gay New Yorker who starts an AIDS support organization only to find himself struggling against its political reticence while elected officials refuse to act and men die all around him."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...By the time a bereaved activist recounts how his husband's dying moments were spent surrounded by guards wearing hazmat suits, his lifeless body turned away by hospitals and refused burial, we are as outraged as our intrepid crusader ( played by David Cromer with unswerving conviction and touching vulnerability ), and when Mary Beth Fisher's even harder-boiled physician excoriates the government's medical board for their obstruction, the opening-night audience's spontaneous applause echoed the fury of her diatribe. What? Did you think that the war was over?"
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...There's something remarkable about the staying power of The Normal Heart. Larry Kramer's raw agitprop piece about the earliest days of the AIDS crisis and Gay Men's Health Crisis, the group Kramer helped found to fight the unknown malady, was as much a public service announcement as GMHC's flyers when the play premiered at New York's Public Theater in 1985. It was a stage stand-in for the lack of acknowledgement by various governments or urgent enough coverage by mainstream news outlets (The New York Times comes in for particular savaging), as well as what Kramer saw as the shortcomings of gay leadership including his own organization, which by that point had cut him loose."
ShowBizChicago - Recommended
"...The Normal Heart is only as good as its Ned, and Cromer is a natural choice for the role; his Ned is acerbic and unsure of himself, but you can’t help but like a guy who takes it upon himself to warn the entire gay population about the perils of AIDS. So consider yourself warned: The Normal Heart is not an easy show to watch. It’s raw, it’s revelatory, it’s maddening—and yet it’s also a critical mouthpiece to expose the shrewd politics that continue to surround matters of public health."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Every return to this agitprop masterwork is a communal effort, an outpouring as much as a production. TimeLine Theatre Company's revival at Stage 773 is anchored in a kinetic performance by theater wizard David Cromer. His implacable portrayal gives every supposedly dated development the present-tense immediacy of breaking news."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Most of us know someone who died of AIDS (me included) and I hope this production gets us once again to realize that AIDS is still a major threat and that we can and must help defeat this scourge. The TimeLine production is wonderful theatre with a passionate and heartwarming drama that will reach into your psyche as only live theatre can. Don't miss this terrific production."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Highly Recommended
"...Under the masterful direction of Nick Bowling, THE NORMAL HEART has a well-paced beat. Bowling balances the historical outrage with humor and humanity. We care about these people. The terrific ensemble is so engaging I was stunned when it was over. I wanted to see Cromer and Grapey have one more heartfelt, brotherly scene. Alas, THE NORMAL HEART had to stop sometime. I highly recommend seeing THE NORMAL HEART for its dated but timeless content. It's stunning!"
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...It is the all star cast that truly overcomes a script that could easily be trimmed in many ways. Try to imagine a stage filled with actors such as Cromer and Fisher and then add to the mix Marc Grapey as Ned’s brother/attorney,Patrick Andrews as Felix Turner ( Ned’s lover) and Alex Weisman,Stephen Rader, Nik Kourtis, Joel Gross and Stephen Cone- each playing their role ( or in some cases, roles) to perfection. Yes, I can recommend the show because of the story itself and the fine acting."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This fine production, one of TimeLine's best, is among the most important dramas playing in Chicago during an otherwise whimsical holiday season. Audiences looking for a play that's relevant today and yet of historical significance, that offers performances from many of the area's very best actors and behind-the-scenes artists, should not miss this opportunity. For some theatre goers this play may provide an eye-opening look at an important era in our history; for many others, especially those who've lost loved ones to this pandemic, old wounds may be reopened. The effect is uniformly cathartic and revelatory...and beautiful."
Huffington Post - Highly Recommended
"...I've been recommending this production to everyone I talk to. Having grown up in a generation that bypassed the worst of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, it's crucial that we remember the struggles endured and the lessons learned. It's also one of those rare instances where powerful, necessary playwriting meets a rock-solid production committed to telling this story in an unapologetic, emotionally raw way."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...There was something special about seeing “The Normal Heart” back in 1986, when the AIDS epidemic was in the national consciousness. But more than a quarter of a century later, the play still retains its power to stir the emotions. If Kramer’s work is occasionally shrill and excessively uncompromising, he is artist enough to portray his justified rage in riveting theatrical terms. It’s to TimeLine’s credit that they saw “The Normal Heart” as a memorable play for all seasons, and a particularly good fit for the theater’s auxiliary venue at Stage 773, where it’s explosiveness can be fully served."
