angels in america revival

I hope soon!!!!!!

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isn't it on sometime this week? I've seen ads for it... also, it is coming to DVD if it hasnt already

It just won best miniseries. what a surprise! I hope it's revived.

I don't know -- two major revivals, but a great thought

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I saw the the original production multiple times (Millenium - 5 or 6 times; Perestroika - 4) and it's on the short list of the greatest stage productions I've ever seen. That said, don't look for a revival anytime soon. The original Broadway production, despite the Pulitzer and several Tonys lost $1.1 million even though it ran almost a year. Union overtime rules make it impossible for a show of that length to run profitably in a Broadway house (union stagehands used to call the show the "cash machine" because every night at 11:01, they all went on very, very lucrative overtime).

Perhaps it could have a limited engagement at BAM or a perhaps a British (or other foreign) company could do it at a non-union house like Pace or the Schimmel Center (where shows like "Mnemonic" by Theatre Complicite could have an open-ended run without having to deal with American Equity rules). Otherwise, it's highly unlikely we'll see two three-and-a-half hour plays run in rep again any time soon in a Broadway house.

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I forgot to note that the production's investors were able to make back their million dollar loss during the subsequent national tour -- larger venues and less stringent overtime rules meant the show could actually turn a profit as it traveled city to city. After a year on the road, AIA actually wound up making a modest profit.

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I have a question thats a little off topic about the original run. How did the performances run? Did they do both plays ever day or did the switch off every night?

Millenium played a regular eight show a week schedule for about six months while Kushner finished rewrites on Perestroika (fyi --he went to the NYU Tisch grad program and used the students to rehearse and workshop the changes; Debra Messing played Harper and Ben Schenkman played Roy Cohn -- both were MFA students at the time).

Once Perestroika was ready, the Broadway cast rehearsed it during the day and then performed Millenium at night and when it was ready they went to the following rep schedule:

Monday night: Millenium
Tuesday night: Perestroika
Wednesday Matinee: Millenium
Wednesday night: Perestroika
Thursday night: Millenium
Friday night: Perestroika
Saturday matinee: Milennium
Saturday night: Perestroika
Sunday: Dark

This allowed you to see the entire play on consecutive nights or in one marathon all-day session on Wednesdays or Saturdays if you liked (you bought each ticket separately, so if you only wanted to see part I or only Part II, you had that option as well)

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Updated On: 9/20/04 at 05:15 PM

Thank you so much Margo. I have been wondering this since it first aired on HBO. I never knew the part about the NYU kids doing the readings. Very interesting.

I really REALLY wished they had filmed and released the Broadway production -- words simply cannot do justice in describing the performances of Stephen Spinella as Prior, Marcia Gay Harden as Harper and Kathleen Chalfant as Hannah Pitt (as well as the others -- Wright, of course was wonderful, but then you all kow that since he was the original original cast member who got to repeat his role on film), as well as Wolfe's direction. Two-time Tony-winner for the role Spinella especially was simply extraordinary in ways Justin Kirk (and otherwise fine, but miscast, actor) couldn't begin to approach. I'm glad the HBO film was made and has introduced this work to the masses, but so much of the wit and intensity (and camp sensibility) was missing from the production that it felt like and inferior, though still very compelling version of the play to me (so dark, so somber, so melodramatic in ways it never was on stage). With those elements missing the film just didn't pack the emotional wallop of the play for me or any of my friends who saw both.

If you can ever come across it, there was an hour long Great Performances special made by PBS around the time that Millenium opened that has very insightful interviews with the Broadway cast (they're all quite amazingly eloquent and articulate) as well as Kushner and Wolfe, and features several scenes from the play (including Spinella's defiant, goose-bump inducing tearjerking declaration as the angel is about to crash through his ceiling, "My blood is clean! My brain is fine! I can handle pressure! I am a gay man and I am used to pressure, to trouble.... I am TOUGH an dSTRONG!....." - Kushner admitted that even after seeing him do it dozens of times, Spinella would make him tear up with that speech every time), plus rehearsal footage and some very illuminating documentary footage on Reagan, the rise of AIDS and the gay pride movement which does a wonderful job of giving background and context to the entire play. It's worth tracking down if you can.

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Margo, I'm watching it right now. I had forgotten I had this and watching these clips of the show makes me wish to God I had seen it in person.

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This rehearsal footage is priceless. It's interesting to watch and compare (what little we see of) Harden to Mary Louise Parker. Both fantastic, but very different.

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