The sun came out Monday in New York, a lovely crisp, cool day, but I spent most of it inside, thinking about AIDS.

I spent the evening at one of the final previews of the revival of Larry Kramer’s impassioned, angry, autobiographical The Normal Heart, written in 1985, when the syndrome was a death sentence. Little factual was known about its cause or containment, let alone a cure, and Kramer was founding a politically charged service organization called Gay Men’s Health Crisis, for which the playwright-to-be was its motivator and hot-headed own worst enemy.

All of this is recounted in The Normal Heart, and seeing it today is like going back in a time capsule to a very dark time in recent history, but a trip worth taking. People of all stripes continue to contract AIDS, yet the earlier urgency and concern about the epidemic has waned.

It is not a very well-written play, but a powerful production. Characters speechify to us instead of talking to each other, but there is no denying the force of these rants, particularly as performed by Joe Mantello (as the Kramer character), his New York Times Styles reporter lover (John Benjamin Hickey) and Pushing Daisies’ Lee Pace as the organization’s spineless president.

It is the sort of work one hopes finds an audience, but suspect it will be an uphill battle, given Broadway ticket prices and the public’s penchant for burrowing its head in the sand.

In any event, it was a rather celebrity-studded audience Monday evening with Joan Rivers, Bob Balaban, Christine Baranski and co-director Joel Grey (on his night off from Anything Goes) in attendance. And standing on the sidewalk after the play was a frail, old man quietly passing out printed letters adding a few bitter facts about AIDS to the evening.

It was Kramer, now 75, still angry, still trying to get the world to pay attention.

* * *

Anger is, of course, a perfectly appropriate response to AIDS, but for 25 years, the support group Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has been raising money for the AIDS-related social service work of the Actors Fund. And the culmination of the group’s spring fund drive for a quarter century has been the Easter Bonnet Competition, a group congratulation by the theater community for its efforts in the form of a snarky, often emotional entertainment.

I have fortunately been in New York at the right time to catch this show for several years now, and it is often a high point of the week. No, it will never win Tony Awards since it only runs for two days, but an impressive amount of energy and creativity goes into the production.

Basically, cast members of current shows write, stage and perform skits and musical numbers, often making fun of their own shows or other shows, and the digs can be comically scathing. Leading targets this year included the hibernating, on-hiatus Spiderman (predicted to be the only show to ever win Best Musical and Best Revival in the same season), Kathleen Turner’s fast-shuttered play High (make up your own punch line) and the moribund, much-touted flop from last fall, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

A sprightly opening number kidding the chipper characters of TV’s Glee was directed and choreographed by Shea Sullivan (who devised the knockout dances for the Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s recent Crazy for You), a rising talent.

I certainly got misty-eyed over a tribute to the late Doris Eaton Travis, the 106-year-old former Ziegfeld Follies girl who had appeared -- and often tap-danced -- at the Easter Bonnet for the past 12 years and died two weeks after last year’s event. And a retrospective of bonnets past by the cast of La Cage aux Folles was worth a throat-lump, as was Kerry Butler’s rendition of the event’s traditional finale, David Friedman’s Help Is on the Way.

In the 25 years of the Easter Bonnet Competition, Broadway Cares has raised over $40 million. Quite incredible.

Whatever you’re doing today, you’re having a better day than I am, I assure you.

Today was my travel day, heading to New York for my annual end-of-season Broadway show trip. For the past month, I have been combing through the listings, strategizing, negotiating with press agents, planning eight days of theatergoing. And because I was starting with a Sunday matinee (Sister Act), I booked a 6:30 a.m. flight out of West Palm Beach.

All I had to do was arrive, bleary-eyed, in time for the flight. What could go wrong?

I got there in plenty of time, boarding was orderly and efficient, but soon the pilot came on the PA system reporting that there was faulty, inadequate water pressure to the lavatories. There were New Yorkers on the flight, however, so you could hear mutters that we would all cross our legs and defer our bathroom needs until after we landed, but that apparently cuts no ice with the FAA.

So mechanics were called, or rather the one mechanic on duty, because this is Easter Sunday. And anyway, the one mechanic was busy working on an American Airlines snafu. By the time he got around to us, an hour had passed, so the pilot had us all deplane to “stretch our legs.” Not a good sign. Whatever happened to Delta being ready when you are?

So much for my planned jaunt to Chinatown for dim sum brunch. But if the plane took off in the next hour or so, I would easily make the matinee, not to mention the 6:30 p.m. official opening of Born Yesterday, the revival with Jim Belushi.

And we waited, and we waited, or at least I did while other passengers started bolting, making reservations on alternative flights. Maybe they’ve flown on Easter before and know how scarce other seats can be. By the time I bailed out, all I could get that would get me to New York this day was -- I’m not making this up -- a 4:30 p.m. flight from West Palm to Atlanta, followed by one from Atlanta to Detroit -- then Detroit to La Guardia, landing at 11:59 p.m. Oy.

Mind you, none of these flights have happened yet. I’m just supposed to be delighted that I got the rebound reservations.

So scratch Sister Act and Born Yesterday. Still to come -- if I make it to Manhattan -- is the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition, The Normal Heart, Arcadia, The People in the Picture, Jerusalem, The Book of Mormon, War Horse and Catch Me if You Can.

I’ll be blogging about these shows and whatever else I encounter in New York during the week, plus more complete reviews when I return home.

All I can say is, after this morning, things have to be looking up. Don’t they?

Like her earlier Tony Award-winning comedy Art, playwright Yasmina Reza again explores adults behaving childishly in God of Carnage, which took Broadway by storm in 2009 and looks likely to meet a similarly appreciative audience at Boca Raton’s Caldwell Theatre. After all, there is a universal joy in watching others try to maintain civility and failing miserably.

As with her earlier trio of pals whose friendship dissolves before our eyes over an expensive, yet minimalist painting, the French-born Iranian writer again mines a situation that we can simultaneously identify with and feel superior to.

Two married couples, upscale residents of Brooklyn’s gentrified Cobble Hill neighborhood, meet for coffee and a precious pastry known as clafoutis to discuss -- calmly and rationally -- a playground scuffle between their 11-year-old sons, in order to reach an appropriate punishment and perhaps to gain an apology. Fat chance.

The veneer of civility is only fleeting, giving way to a profane, high-energy, physical comedy production choreographed as much as it is directed by Kenneth Kay.

Over the course of 85 intermission-less minutes, scenic designer Tim Bennett’s well-appointed living room space -- which resembles an adult sandbox -- is reduced to shambles, and how it gets there is much of the fun.

The characters change positions at regular intervals as they form and dissolve alliances with each other, but initially the hosts, Veronica (Kim Cozort) and Michael (Michael Serratore) Novak, a writer devoted to art and to humanitarian causes and her volatile husband, a purveyor of wholesale household goods, are on opposite sides of the stage, sizing up their prey seated on the couch. They are Annette (Kim Ostrenko) and Alan (Nick Santa Maria), a passive wealth manager and a combative lawyer attached to his cell phone. He is barely engaged in the parenting chore before him, far more involved in damage control for his culpable pharmaceutical client.

At first, Annette is embarrassed by her spouse’s lack of interest in their son’s altercation, which turns into a physical illness brought on by the stress of the situation. Or maybe from the clafoutis. In any event, Reza has written in a humdinger of a projectile vomiting scene, and the Caldwell tech staff executes it with very credible, though messy skill.

God of Carnage is not the most profound play you are likely to encounter this season, but it is entertaining and Reza knows how to impart some insights on the human condition while concentrating on earning laughs.

GOD OF CARNAGE, Caldwell Theatre Co., 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. Through Sunday, May 15. Tickets: $27-$50. Call: (561) 241-7432.

There is a lot more carnage then there are signs of God in Yasmina Reza’s 2009 Tony Award-winning best play, God of Carnage, which opens this evening at the Caldwell Theatre Company in Boca Raton.

As she did with her earlier acclaimed comedy Art, Reza enjoys conjuring up adults moved by circumstances to act childishly. In that earlier play, it was three men, long-time friends whose bond is snapped when one of them buys and flaunts an expensive, minimalist painting. Similarly, God of Carnage concerns two civilized, upscale couples who come together to discuss calmly an act of playground violence between their sons, but are soon reduced to hostile children themselves.

As Kenneth Kay, who directs the Caldwell production, says of Reza, “She’s very interested in discovering what’s underneath relationships, whether it’s three guys dealing with a painting or two sets of parents dealing with an altercation. She loves to peel away those layers.”

“I thought it was pretty funny, because OK, we’re adults, quote-unquote, but we also have the potential to be childish,” says actress Kim Ostrenko, who plays wealth manager Annette. “And I’ve seen it because I live in a condo and I was involved, unfortunately, with the board for a while. Wow, do you see it there. Those people go crazy. All decorum and adult behavior just goes out the window, and they just go down to their most primitive behavior.”

“We’ve seen all kinds of soccer moms and dads, and heard news reports of how they go ballistic,” chimes in Kim Cozort, who plays writer Veronica. “When I was working with a children’s theater program and directing kids, I saw these parents at the auditions accosting me, saying ‘I saw you give more attention to that kid.’ I tried to be so nice and, boy, underneath they were ready to just take me out.”

“It’s a human thing. When you strip it away, we are a human animal,” adds Michael Serratore, playing wholesaler Mike, Veronica’s husband. “We have two natures. We aspire to godliness, but we also have a base nature.”

In the course of the play, not only does civility dissolve before our eyes, but characters gang up on each other. “With one word it can turn on a dime,” says Cozort. “Alliances can change -- male against female, couple against couple -- but you have to be present at every moment. We have to be on at all times, listening, ready. With this play, there’s nowhere to hide.”

“From a structural point of view, it’s the kind of play that I like to direct,” says Kay. “It’s got a real mix of outlandish comedy, some funny physical stuff and ultimately, it’s just a great story about these four people who come together to try to figure this incident out and solve it.”

Still, God of Carnage may not be to everyone’s taste. “My mother is afraid to come see the show,” says Nick Santa Maria, who plays cell phone-obsessed lawyer Alan, married to Annette. “She said, ‘What’s it like?’ I said, ‘Ma, it’s a comedy, but it’s kind of unpleasant.’ She’s not sure she wants to see her son be unpleasant.”

The previous time Santa Maria appeared at the Caldwell was 11 years ago in Joe DiPietro’s Over the River and Through the Woods, a feel-good comedy. “With a lot of warmth,” he notes. “This is the opposite.”

GOD OF CARNAGE, Caldwell Theatre Company, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. Friday, April 15-Sunday, May 15. Tickets: $27-$50. Call: (561) 241-7432.

Last night’s 35^th annual Carbonell Awards ceremony had a curious, unscripted recurring theme -- actor Todd Allen Durkin’s private parts.

I guess we should have seen it coming -- the theme, not the naughty bits -- since he did appear full frontally nude in GableStage’s production of Blasted, the runaway award winner, and later was featured in Mosaic Theatre’s The Irish Curse, which talked about, but didn’t show, the genetic tendency of Irish men to have small genitals.

In any event, the evening began with a clever musical parody of Stephen Sondheim’s Art Isn’t Easy, with lyrics by Maribeth Graham reviewing the year in South Florida theater. In it, she made the first mention of Durkin’s penis -- following it with a very Sondheimian rhyme “between us” -- and many a presenter and recipient followed suit.

Picture Joe Adler and Avi Hoffman, the directors of the two above plays, discussing across the stage of the Broward Center’s Amaturo Theatre, the relative size of Durkin’s, um, Johnson. Alas, Durkin did not win a Carbonell for his Blasted performance, so he had no opportunity for a podium rebuttal, settling instead for a few shouted responses from the audience.

Later, when Gregg Weiner won for the year’s Best Actor in GableStage’s Fifty Words, he recalled his early acting training at New World School of the Arts, where he learned to “act with his balls.” That, too, quickly became a catch phrase of the evening.

Anyway, it was a big night for Blasted, the Sarah Kane play heavy with sexual and political perversions, which Adler called the most daring play he had ever produced. It won for Best Play Production, Best Director (Adler), Best Sound Design (Matt Corey), Best Scenic Design (Tim Connolly) and Best Lighting Design (Jeff Quinn).

Actors’ Playhouse of Coral Gables, perennial winner for its major musical productions, won for Miss Saigon, which was cited for Best Director (David Arisco), Best Actor in a Musical (Herman Sebek) and Best Musical Direction (Eric Alsford). In the evening’s chief surprise, though, it lost the Best Production of a Musical Carbonell to Broward Stage Door Theatre’s Mack and Mabel, the only award that show received.

Among Palm Beach County theaters, the Maltz Jupiter had a good night, pulling in four Carbonells for three different shows -- Best Ensemble (Twelve Angry Men), Best Actress, Musical (Tari Kelly, Anything Goes), Best Choreography (Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Anything Goes) and Best Costume Design (Jose M. Rivera, La Cage aux Folles).

Florida Stage demonstrated its ability to find and develop new plays, winning for Best New Work (Christopher Demos-Brown’s When the Sun Shone Brighter). It also was cited for two of its performers, Deborah L. Sherman (Best Supporting Actress, Play, Goldie, Max & Milk) and Nick Duckart (Best Supporting Actor, Musical, Dr. Radio).

Palm Beach Dramaworks went home with one award, Best Supporting Actor, Play (Will Connolly, Candida). The Caldwell Theatre was shut out, however, having gone into the evening with only one nomination.

Here is the complete list of competitive winners:

* Best Production of a Play -- Blasted, GableStage

* Best Production of a Musical -- Mack and Mabel, Broward Stage Door Theatre

* Best Director, Play -- Joseph Adler, Blasted

* Best Director, Musical -- David Arisco, Miss Saigon, Actors’ Playhouse

* Best New Work -- Christopher Demos-Brown, When the Sun Shone Brighter, Florida Stage

* Best Actor, Play -- Gregg Weiner, Fifty Words, GableStage

* Best Actress, Play -- Barbara Bradshaw, Collected Stories, Mosaic Theatre

* Best Actor, Musical -- Herman Sebek, Miss Saigon

* Best Actress, Musical -- Tari Kelly, Anything Goes, Maltz Jupiter Theatre

* Best Supporting Actor, Play -- Will Connolly, Candida, Palm Beach Dramaworks

* Best Supporting Actress, Play -- Deborah L. Sherman, Goldie, Max & Milk, Florida Stage

* Best Supporting Actor, Musical -- Nick Duckart, Dr. Radio, Florida Stage

* Best Supporting Actress, Musical -- Lisa Manuli, Motherhood the Musical, GFour Productions

* Best Musical Direction -- Eric Alsford, Miss Saigon

* Best Choreography -- Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Anything Goes, Maltz Jupiter Theatre

* Best Lighting Design -- Jeff Quinn, Blasted

* Best Scenic Design -- Tim Connolly, Blasted

* Best Costume Design -- Jose M. Rivera, La Cage aux Folles, Maltz Jupiter Theatre

* Best Sound Design -- Matt Corey, Blasted

* Best Ensemble -- Twelve Angry Men, Maltz Jupiter Theatre