Reliving the start of AIDS crisis
Shrill. Didactic. Pedantic. Alarmist. The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer's 1985 play detailing the beginnings of the HIV-AIDS epidemic, is all of those things. It's also a masterpiece, a compelling drama written to wake up a slumbering world about the then-rising crisis, which to date has taken the lives of 35 million people - sons, lovers, friends, teachers, sisters, brothers. Arena Stage's remount of last season's Broa…