Angels in America


The HBO production of Angels in America


Emma Thompson as the Angel

I watched part one of the HBO special Angels in America last week, and part two tonight. This is a fairly faithful adaptation of Tony Kushner's play. It is a terrific play, and has been adapted sucessfully in a first rate production. Here's part of the pr blurb found at the Barclay Agency, which represents him for speaking tours:

Tony Kushner’s seven-hour, two-part, Broadway production of Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is a masterful epic—it has received a Pulitzer Prize, two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, the Evening Standard Award, two Olivier Award Nominations, the New York Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, and the LAMBDA Literary Award for Drama. In 1998, London’s National Theatre selected Angels in America as one of the ten best plays of the 20th century. About Angels in America, Newsweek magazine wrote, “The entire work is the broadest, deepest, most searching American play of our time.” The 2003 HBO television version of this play was directed by Mike Nichols and featured actors Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, and Emma Thompson.

I saw part one on stage twice, once on Broadway, and once in Washington, DC. I saw part two once, in London at the National Theatre.
Although I think that this is the best American play in the last twenty years, and although the acting is superb, I still feel that the television version does not have the power of the stage version. Partly that is because the play is so theatrical, it feel diminished a bit on the small screen. Some characters that are fabulously larger than life on the stage - Roy Cohn and Belize - are not quite as exciting on television. That said, it is a very moving, funny and sad, tragic but ultimately hopeful play. I really like that Kushner has not played to stereotypes, and that the message is all about forgiveness and understanding.
He does not sugar coat things either - both Joe and Louis get forgiven, but they have blown it with Prior Walter and Harper. This feels right.
There were a number of fine performances, including Al Pacino as Roy Cohn, Mary Louise Parker as Harper, Jeffrey Wright playing Belize (as he did on Broadway), and Meryl Streep as Hannah Pitt. Pacino, I saw last summer in Salome , and Parker I saw several years ago in Proof - Wright I saw as Belize in the original. The others I do not think I have ever seen on stage.
The most successful parts were the realistic ones - the scenes in heaven don't really work properly on tv, although Emma Thompson's Angel is really great. It reminds of just how good this play is, and I am going to add it to next semester's drama lit course.

Posted: Mon - December 15, 2003 at 12:24 AM          

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