 The first half of the musical takes place in 1979, before the start of the epidemic, and the second half takes place in 1981, the year the epidemic began.This historical development results in the first act being primarily a comedy, but the second being mostly a tragedy, so that an audience member is likely to "enter laughing and exit crying".In 1981, the disease was not understood by the medical community and was eventually called GRID (Gay-related immune deficiency) by "The New York Times" in May 1982.