Everything about Angels In America totally explained
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is an award winning
play in two parts by American
playwright Tony Kushner. It has been made into both a television
miniseries of the same name and an
opera by
Peter Eötvös. The play is written for eight actors, each of whom plays
two or more roles.
Production history
The first part,
Millennium Approaches, was commissioned and first performed in May 1990 by the Center Theatre Group at the
Mark Taper Forum in
Los Angeles, as a workshop. Kushner developed the play with the
Mark Taper Forum, with which he's a long association.
It received its world premiere in May 1991 in a production performed by the
Eureka Theatre Company of
San Francisco, directed by
David Esbjornson. It debuted in
London in a
Royal National Theatre production directed by
Declan Donnellan in January 1992, which ran for a year.
The second part,
Perestroika, was still being developed as
Millennium Approaches was being performed. It was performed several times as stage readings by both the Eureka Theatre (during the world premiere of part one), and the Mark Taper Forum (in May 1992). It received its world premiere in November 1992 in a production by the Mark Taper Forum, directed by
Oskar Eustis and
Tony Taccone. A year later on
20 November 1993, it received its London debut at the National Theatre, again directed by Declan Donnellan, in repertory with a revival of
Millennium Approaches.
The play debuted on
Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre in 1993, directed by
George C. Wolfe, with
Millennium Approaches being performed in May and
Perestroika joining it in repertory in November. Both
Millennium Approaches and
Perestroika were awarded the
Tony Awards for
Best Play back to back in 1993 and 1994 respectively. Both parts also won back to back
Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Play.
Plot summary
Set in New York City in the mid-1980s, Act One of
Millennium Approaches introduces us to the central
characters. As the play opens, Louis Ironson, a
neurotic,
gay Jew learns his lover, Prior Walter, has
AIDS. As the play and Prior's illness progress, Louis becomes unable to cope and moves out. Meanwhile,
closeted homosexual
Mormon and
Republican law clerk Joe Pitt is offered a major promotion by his mentor, the
McCarthyist lawyer
Roy Cohn. Joe doesn't immediately take the job because he feels he's to check with his
Valium-addicted,
agoraphobic wife, Harper, who is unwilling to move. Unbeknownst to Joe, Roy is himself deeply closeted and, as Roy himself discovers later, has AIDS.
As the seven-hour play progresses, Prior is visited by
ghosts and an
angel who proclaim him to be a
prophet; Joe finds himself struggling to reconcile his
religion with his
sexuality; Louis struggles with his guilt about leaving Prior and begins a relationship with Joe; Harper's mental health deteriorates as she realizes that Joe is gay; Joe's mother, Hannah, moves to
New York to attempt to look after Harper and meets Prior after a failed attempt by Prior to confront Hannah's son; Harper begins to separate from Joe whom she's depended upon and find strength she was unaware of; and Roy finds himself in the hospital, reduced to the companionship of the
ghost of
Ethel Rosenberg and his nurse, Belize, a former
drag queen and Prior's best friend, who meanwhile has to deal with Louis's constant demands for updates on Prior's health.
The play is deliberately performed so that the moments requiring
special effects often show their theatricality. Most of the actors play multiple characters (for example, the actress playing Prior's
nurse also appears as the Angel). There are heavy
Biblical references and references to American
society, as well as some fantastical scenes including voyages to
Antarctica and
Heaven, as well as key events happening in
San Francisco and at
Bethesda Fountain in
Central Park.
HBO miniseries
» For the main article, see Angels in America (miniseries)
In 2003,
HBO Films created a miniseries version of the play. Kushner adapted his original text for the screen, and
Mike Nichols directed. HBO broadcast the film in various formats: three-hour chunks that correspond to "Millennium Approaches" and "Perestroika," as well as one-hour "chapters" that roughly correspond to an act or two of each of these plays. The first three chapters were initially broadcast on December 7, to international acclaim, with the final three chapters following. "Angels in America" was the most watched made-for-cable movie in 2003 and won both the
Golden Globe and
Emmy for Best Miniseries.
Kushner made certain edits or changes to his play (especially Part II, "Perestroika") in order for it to work onscreen, but the HBO version is generally a remarkably faithful representation of Kushner's original work. Kushner has been quoted as saying that he knew Nichols was the right person to direct the movie when, at their first meeting, Nichols immediately said that he wanted actors to play multiple roles, as had been done onstage.
The lead cast includes
Al Pacino,
Meryl Streep,
Emma Thompson,
Jeffrey Wright,
Justin Kirk,
Ben Shenkman,
Patrick Wilson and
Mary-Louise Parker.
Operatic version
Angels in America - The Opera made its world premiere at the Théâtre du Châtelet in
Paris, France, on
November 23,
2004. The opera was based on both parts of the
Angels in America fantasia, however the script was re-worked and condensed to fit both parts into a two and half hour show. Director Peter Eötvös explains: "In the opera version, I put less emphasis on the political line than Kushner...I rather focus on the passionate relationships, on the highly dramatic suspense of the wonderful text, on the permanently uncertain state of the visions." A German version of the opera followed suit in mid 2005. In late 2005,
PBS announced that they'd air a live filmed version of the opera as a part of its
Great Performances lineup. The opera made its
U.S. debut in June 2006 at the
Stanford Calderwood Pavilion in
Boston, Massachusetts.
Awards and critical reception
Millennium Approaches
Perestroika
1992 Fund for New American Plays/Kennedy Centre Award
1992 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best New Play
1994 Tony Award for Best Play
1994 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play
The play merited inclusion as the very last item in Harold Bloom's controversial list of what he considered to be the most important works of literature, The Western Canon (1994).
Further Information
Get more info on 'Angels In America'.
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