HBO's The Normal Heart is welcoming another group of Broadway veterans to the already star-studded cast. According to the network's Twitter feed, Ryan Murphy’s made-for-TV movie adaptation of Larry Kramer’s Tony-winning drama will feature Tony winners B.D. Wong, Stephen Spinella and Denis O’Hare, as well as rising star Finn Wittrock and House of Cards’ Corey Stoll. No word yet on what characters this esteemed group of actors will play.
Law & Order: SVU star Wong won a Tony for his role in M. Butterfly. Spinella won back-to-back Tony Awards for originating the role of Prior Walter in the seminal AIDS drama Angels in America; he received an additional nomination for James Joyce’s The Dead. O’Hare won a Tony Award for Take Me Out and received an additional nomination for Assassins; he’s worked with Murphy on the hit series American Horror Story. Wittrock starred on Broadway in Death of a Salesman and will lead the off-Broadway revival of Romeo & Juliet this fall. Stoll appeared on Broadway in A View from the Bridge, Old Acquaintance and Henry IV; his off-Broadway credits include Intimate Apparel, Some Americans Abroad and Beast.
The Normal Heart stars Julia Roberts as Dr. Emma Brookner, Mark Ruffalo as Ned Weeks, Jim Parsons (who co-starred in the 2011 Broadway production) as Tommy Boatwright, Alec Baldwin as Ben Weeks, Taylor Kitsch as Bruce Niles, Jonathan Groff as Bruce's HIV-positive lover Greg, Matt Bomer as Ned’s lover Felix Turner, and Joe Mantello (who nabbed a Tony nomination for his portrayal of Ned Weeks in The Normal Heart on Broadway) as Mickey Marcus. The film also features Tony and Oscar winner Joel Grey and Tony nominee Alfred Molina.
The Normal Heart is Kramer's groundbreaking portrayal of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 1980s. It premiered off-Broadway at the Public Theater in 1985, and received a Best Revival Tony Award in 2011 for its first-ever Broadway production.