Angels in America

Goddamnit, I do *not* need to go to New York to see this again, I do *not* need to go to New York to see this again.....

Got a week off work, so between doing a mini tour of the north of the country and no real soccer on, knowing that AIA is opening this weekend, treated myself by watching the HBO series again, which I enjoyed immensely.

Looks like I be seeing this again in May.

Interesting looking at the reviews and the ones I noted were all raves, which to be frank I didn’t expect anything less, if it was like the Nation’s production. However The one I don’t expect to be so good and it’s behind a paywall and that is the Regan/Trump loving Wall Street Journal? I am not going to give them one dime to read it.

Quite right too. Garf is the lead, all of the others should be in supporting.

That does also strike me as a way of giving Nathan the best chance of winning the Tony. He certainly wouldn't win it as Lead, he could very well do it as Featured though. They do love the Lane-ster on Broadway.

Well thats interesting. Nathan, Andrew and James all recieved Drama Desk nominations, but James placed in Lead alongside Andrew.

Obviously the Royals are Kushner fans ....

haha as much as I'm tempted to extend my stay in NY by 2 weeks, even I am not quite that crazy (not quite). 

www.buzzfeed.com/steventhrasher/angels-in-america

An interesting article, I don't agree with Thrasher's point on straight salvation, but what he says about race in the play is spot-on.

It has regional productions with a fair amount of regularity in the States whereas in the UK we see it about once a decade. So it does indeed do well enough regionally but has only done a national tour once as the regional houses mount their own.

It is however the only time in my knowledge two substantial/high profile productions have been staged together- but likely the link back to the original for both is what motivated that.

I'm back... having said goodbye to 'my' Angels. Expect lengthy blogs in the coming days, but I thought I'd dump some thoughts on the actual play here first.

Firstly the staging...I admit I missed the Lyttleton. But I'm a whore for that 'mare of a theatre. But what the design team and Elliott have done to get it into that space is brilliant (and f***ing expensive by all accounts). It still looks essentially the same to the casual observer but since when have I been that? The main thing I missed was the building of detritus towards the end of Millennium and that beautiful 'stripping back' moment at the start of Perestroika. That and the volume of snow/water on stage at different points. In other respects the smaller stage worked well, the feeling of New Yorkers cramped and stumbling over and into each other really worked well in the smaller space. Staging wise the only other major difference is Heaven, which was the only bit staged differently for artistic preference rather than logistics, and it looks WONDERFUL. It's a few fairly simple tweaks- stage left is now a curtain and lights and a ghost light, and Prior parts the curtain followed by the Angel to enter Heaven. Meanwhile the back of the stage is kind of 'flip revealed' by some flats, which also conceal TVs, that then flip back. Visually it's stronger, and translates better in the space, and artistically it makes more sense as a deliberate choice rather than an audience wondering 'is it a theatre or did they just not bother with staging this bit'.

Oh and the most important piece of staging news: THEY EAT THE DAMN HOTDOGS. (Do you know how many hours that annoyed me for in London, do you?)

Other key changes are obviously casting. The 'shadows' for the Angel have been tweaked a bit in terms of what scenes they're in, and the movement elements changed as well in places (using the Broadway trained dancers also really works in their favour).

Beth Malone as the Angel is fantastic. I just fell in love with her (I think I'm 10 times gayer now). She's quirky and weird, not as eccentric as Amanda was, but then that's also Amanda and Beth's own personalities in the role. I loved Beth's athleticism as the Angel, and her personal quirks. Her Emily was also sweeter and softer spoken, and a nice contrast to the weird Angel. And her Sister Ella Chapter was adorably dorky and a nice foil for Susan Brown.

Lee Pace. Who I admit I had to google when he was cast. God-damn if I'm not in love with the man. His Joe is so different to Tovey, but from the first scene he had me. He's a quieter, more vulnerable Joe. And while Tovey was playing Joe as a man in the closet and afraid to come out, Pace is playing the genuinely confused (possibly indeed bisexual) Joe. He's so softy spoken and quiet with it, and so earnest that the times he loses it and lashes out feel genuinely frightening but also terribly sad. And that's what he gave that I think I missed in Tovey (who I adored for his own reasons), there's a real heartbreak to Pace's Joe, that he's breaking his own heart as he does Harper's. And that feeling he really is still lost- and the lack of resolution hit me harder with him than it did with Tovey. He's also entirely believable as that buttoned up government official. As a result his two co-stars Gough and McArdle are very different with him. Gough is less angry at him, and her Harper less angry as a result- and again you feel the real sadness of their marriage. McArdle also has a very different relationship with him- and again Pace seems to pull the sadness out of him, but I also genuinely believed these two very awkward dorky characters would find each other, and end up together. They're funny and flirty in the early scenes and it's thoroughly charming.

Oh and I don't know how I got to June without anyone informing me that Pace does the "full Joe" rather than the "Tovey arse" I don't know.

And the rest of it? well it was like coming home. That's the only way I can describe it now.

But the whole team has continued to grow into it- watching Andrew Garfield from first two show day, to the almost end of the run has been a marvel in how far he's come with the character. And it's just one I sit back now and go 'you got it kid, you really did'. McArdle continues to be the annoyingly brilliant bastard he is with the most difficult role. Gough, I much prefer in this version of Harper and again has really settled and grown across the run (from an already astounding place). Nathan Lane has toned down the earlier 'Max Bialystock does AIDS' elements of Millennium, and it's quite brilliant now and matches what he always did in Perestroika. And my Queen Susan Brown...well she just stands there and shows everyone how it's done. (in all seriousness, her Hannah makes my heart soar).

"I'm almost done"

It'll take me a while to really put into words my thoughts on the production as a whole, but it's been such a privilege to watch it grow and , well fly. On a personal note, much like Harper's ozone layer description, I feel like I've absorbed this production over the last 2 years, and been repaired.

(Disclaimer, highly sentimental and if you're sick of me on this play just don't read, I'm sick of me some days too).

So a while ago this play started it's final performance on Broadway. I wrote the 'Perestroika' to the 'Millennium' above. It took me forever (much like Kushner) it's long and slightly over-wrought (much like Kushner). But it's a slice of what this whole thing has meant.

What's not in there, that I wanted to say, was a thank you specifically to the Theatreboard community. Last year, when Angels was on was the epitiome of what I think of as this community is at it's best. The support people showed for my love of this play, for how special this production was really touched me. I made some more 'real' friends from here off the back of that and it was part of what has made living with this production for 2 years magical.

In the last two years I've been able to come here and excitedly share news (and yes sometimes keep it a secret). I've been able to indulge my need to over-analyse the play, to talk about favourite actors. And yes, ok share a few pictures of them. And people have supported me, in working on the play, in working towards the book. You've supported and celebrated with me on this mad, mad journey.

And some of you just ogled James McArdle with me and that's ok too.

So what else could I say, except 'You are fabulous creatures each and every one."

blessyoumorelife.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-world-only-spins-forward-saying.html