Plays & Drama Codexery

Angels in America

Two-part play examining AIDS and homosexuality in 1980s America.

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The work explores the AIDS epidemic in the gay community during the 1980s.[1] American playwright Tony Kushner authored the two-part work Angels in America, which debuted in 1991.[2]

Key facts and history

The play's UK premiere occurred later that same year at the National Theatre in London.[3] The Broadway opening was in 1993.[3] The play was adapted into a six-episode HBO miniseries in 2003.[4] The Eureka Theatre Company in San Francisco, under co-artistic directors Oskar Eustis and Tony Taccone, commissioned the play.[5]

David Esbjornson directed the Eureka Theatre Company's May 1991 premiere of part one, Millennium Approaches.[6] Oskar Eustis and Tony Taccone directed the Mark Taper Forum's November 1992 premiere of part two, Perestroika.[7] Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles hosted the full play's 1992 premiere.[2]

What the cited sources add

The Shmoop account notes that theater critic Frank Rich of the New York Times called the play "a radial rethinking of American political drama"[1] The same source states that Oskar Eustis commissioned Kushner to write what would become Angels in America after being impressed by his early play A Bright Room Called Day.[1] A 1994 Chicago Tribune review describes the play's subtitle as "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes" and calls the drama "an eloquent attempt to place the crisis of AIDS as the focal point of a historic turning point"[8] That review identifies Prior Walter as a gay man afflicted with AIDS who learns he is to become the prophet of a new age.[8]

The same announcement states that the original production won seven Tony Awards, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and the Evening Standard Award for Best New Play.[9] A BroadwayWorld.com announcement from 2017 states that the National Theatre's 2017 production of the play became the fastest selling show in that organization's history.[9]

References

  1. "Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches Introduction", Shmoop. facts only, no text reused. shmoop.com
  2. Wikipedia, "Angels in America" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches Introduction", Shmoop; Lahr, "Tony Kushner and the Making of "Angels in America"", 1992-11-15 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Angels in America" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches Introduction", Shmoop (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Angels in America" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "An AIDS anniversary: 25 years in the arts" . The Seattle Times, June 25, 2006. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Angels in America" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Angels in America: The Complete Oral History", Slate, June 28, 2016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Angels in America" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Public Theater at Stanford Presents: Artistic Team", The Bacchae, 2007; From the programme to the RNT's production of Millennium Approaches in 1992.; From the programme to the RNT's production of Millennium Approaches in 1992. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Angels in America" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: From the programme to the RNT's production of Millennium Approaches and Perestroika in 1993.; From the programme to the RNT's production of Millennium Approaches and Perestroika in 1993. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Richard Christiansen, "Astounding 'Angels': First Installment Of Kushner Saga Jolts The Emotions", Chicago Tribune, September 26, 1994. facts only, no text reused. chicagotribune.com
  9. "Breaking News: Lee Pace Joins Angels in America on Broadway", BroadwayWorld.com, 2017-10-19. facts only, no text reused. broadwayworld.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Angels in America (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Test yourself on TriviaCafe: Who wrote "Angels in America": William Shakespeare, Tony Kushner, Christopher Marlowe or Aeschylus? · More literature trivia

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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