Jim Parsons, left and Lee Pace in The Normal Heart
Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, which opened off-Broadway in 1985, was a cry of outrage at the political, medical and journalistic establishments that were slow to recognize the seriousness gravity of the AIDS epidemic of the early '80s. Today, it the play looks like a period piece. But unburdened of the political freight of its time, the new revival, co-directed by George C. Wolfe and Joel Grey (with another director, Joe Mantello, in the Tony-nominated lead role as a gay writer sounding the alarm), is easier to appreciate as a powerful and impassioned work of polemical theater.