Angels in America

Title: Angels in America
Author: Tony Kushner
Published: This edition in 2011 by NHB, originally from 1992 onwards.
Genre: Inner cover says A Gay Fantasia on National Themes
Pages: 293 (includes afterwords and abouts and such)


Ooh, this is post n:o 98 into this blog, apparently! Let's see if I can get it up to 100 before the new year.

Right! Angels in America! In text form, as a play script. I didn't see the miniseries until this year, but I loved it immediately. Santa was nice enough to bring me this, and I read it pretty much immediately. I also got the series on DVD. Thank you, Santa!

So, what's it about. Set mostly in 1986, AIDS is still pretty much a death sentence, and Prior, sick with the nasty thing, isn't happy about it. His boyfriend Louis is absolutely terrified. Among the main cast are also Joe and Harper, a Mormon married couple, plus Joe's mother Hannah. Harper is addicted to Valium, and Joe kinda fancies men. Hannah is not impressed. Belize, nurse and former drag queen, and Roy, an utter bastard. Oh, there are a lot of other character, including, of course, the Angel who comes through Prior's bedroom ceiling one night and informs him that he's the Prophet.

The play comes in two parts, Millennium Approaches, and Perestroika. This book includes a list of the actors and directors of the play's professional productions, along with staging notes and such. Being mostly dialogue, it was a quick -and a very enjoyable- read. Very humorous, too.

"
PRIOR: You misheard. I'm a Prophet.
JOE: What?
PRIOR: PROPHET PROPHET I PROPHESY I HAVE SIGHTS I SEE. What do you do?
JOE: I'm a clerk.
PRIOR: Oh big deal. A clerk. You what, you file things? Well you better be keeping a file on the hearts you break, that's all that counts in the end, you'll have bills to pay in the world to come, you and your friend, the Whore of Babylon.
(Pause)
Sorry wrong room.
"