Take me seriously, for a moment.

[tzikeh]

If you don't get HBO, I strongly suggest ordering it for the month of December.

Tony Kushner's adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America is going to air in December. Part One (Millennium Approaches) airs Sunday, December 7 at 8e/7c, and Part Two (Perestroika) airs the following Sunday, same time. On Broadway, this was a two-night, eight-hour event. It has been streamlined, by Kushner, into two three-hour sections for television.

The HBO version stars Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Mary-Louise Parker, Emma Thompson, Jeffrey Wright, and a handful of other extremely talented actors, most playing multiple roles (as it was done on stage as well).

Seeing this play was one of the greatest theatrical experiences of my life, and I guarantee you that if this adaptation is even one-tenth as good as the play, you will be thrilled by it.

It is impossible for me to explain what the play is "about". It is set in 1985, and centers around two couples - Prior and Louis, and Joe and Harper. It puts their lives, loves, and struggles in focus against the backdrop of the scourge of AIDS, the Reagan Administration's refusal to confront the crisis, and the loathsome but complex persona of Roy Cohn (also a character in the play). But do not be deterred by how dour this sounds. This is a frighteningly funny, exuberant piece of theater which well deserved its Pulitzer. Do not miss it.

Quotes from reviews of the original production:

"Angels in America is the broadest, deepest, most searching American play of our time."—Jack Kroll, Newsweek

"A vast, miraculous play... provocative, witty and deeply upsetting... a searching and radical rethinking of American political drama."—Frank Rich, The New York Times

"Something rare, dangerous and harrowing... a roman candle hurled into a drawing room...."—Nicholas de Jongh, London Evening Standard

"a masterpiece."—John Lahr, New Yorker

Comments

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

How freakin' desperately do I need to see this??? They ran a full theatrical trailer for it before the showing of TM:R that I went to, and my jaw was just on the floor the entire time.

Must find someone who has HBO to inflict myself upon when it's on. 'Cause daaaaaaaaamn.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I have been eagerly anticipating this for months. IMNSHO, this is the most important play of the past 50 years. Maybe of the past 100 years.

We interviewed Tony Kushner, and he talks here about developing the screenplay.

I don't have HBO. I'm hoping to beg a tape off of somebody. Thanks for the reminder!

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

gah -- pretty sure i axed HBO in the last round of maybe-i'm-living-beyond-my-means. [makes note to make sure someone with HBO is taping this]

[sue-donym.livejournal.com]

That sounds very intriguing. I'll have to check it out especially since...

It puts their lives, loves, and struggles in focus against the backdrop of the scourge of AIDS, the Reagan Administration's refusal to confront the crisis,

That miniseries about the Reagans will be playing on Showtime at the end of this month. I guess a lot of its critics were saying that the miniseries put a negative spin on the Reagan/AIDS situation. And all I can think is, why would they need to put a spin on it? They just need to tell it as is for it to be negative.

[heresluck]

Angels in America! "Millenium Approaches" was the first show I ever saw on Broadway -- last-minute tickets, ended up with box seats. And during the Gay Olympics, yet. Fantastic theatre and wall-to-wall gym queens. Still one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. Fell in love with Kathleen Chalfant and Stephen Spinella on the spot.

:::makes note to prod friends with cable into taping:::

[renenet.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thank you for the heads up. I saw both parts at the National Theatre in London in 1993 and on Broadway in 1994 and, well, holy crap. I'm really looking forward to this.