Ellen Barkin will make her Broadway debut in "The Normal Heart," a last-minute addition to the Broadway season that will also star Joe Mantello and John Benjamin Hickey.
Helmed by Joel Grey, the production was inspired by a well-received benefit reading of the Larry Kramer play earlier this fall. Mantello, now better known as a helmer ("Wicked"), reprises the central role he played in the reading, alongside fellow returning thesp Hickey.
Barkin will play the wheelchair-bound doctor in the play about the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic in New York. Glenn Close appeared in the part in the reading.
"The Normal Heart" will open at the Golden Theater April 27, the same night as tuner "Baby It's You!"
Contact Gordon Cox at
gordon.cox@variety.com