'Normal Heart' sequel beats Off-Broadway

THE SHOW "The Destiny of Me"

THE DEAL The little-known sequel to “The Normal Heart” by playwright and AIDS activist Larry Kramer, will receive a one-night-only reading on Monday at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in the West Village to benefit Off-Broadway’s The New Group. The cast will include Mark Ruffao (who starred in the HBO film version of “The Normal Heart”) Ellen Barkin (who appeared in the recent Broadway revival of “The Normal Heart”), Lee Pace, Eric Bogosian and Edie Falco. 

THE SHOW "The Lifespan of a Fact"

THE DEAL The Broadway-bound play starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones and Bobby Cannavale will have the first all-female design team — including scenic, costume, lighting, sound and projection design — in Broadway history. "Fact," which begins previews at Studio 54 on Sept. 20, explores how an essay about a teenage suicide undergoes fact-checking and leads to a debate over taking liberties with the truth.

THE SHOW "The Jungle"

THE DEAL St. Ann’s Warehouse in Downtown Brooklyn will present the U.S. premiere of “The Jungle,” a new English drama directed by Stephen Daldry about a makeshift, under-resourced refugee camp in Calais, France (which was later demolished by the government) and how refugees from Middle Eastern and African nations created a self-governing society there. Previews will begin in early December.

THE SHOW "A Walk on the Beach"

THE DEAL Plainview-based playwright Claude Solnik details the controversy surrounding the creation of a statue of John F. Kennedy in his drama, which will be presented at Theater for the New City in Manhattan from July 5-15. The play, based on actual events, concerns the media firestorm that results when a Cape Cod sculptor's statue depicting the 35th president walking side by side with John F. Kennedy Jr. is deemed a distortion of history by the locals.