I'm starting some countdowns of my own. I just got an email from Ticketmaster reminding me of these events--who knew they do this? Perhaps this is why I had to pay them about 10 dollars in extra fees per ticket.
Days until Rufus: 5
Days until Sarah Harmer: 14
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Dogslife and I watched the first part of the HBO movie Angels in America last night. My feelings about it are mixed.
Let me preface this by saying, Angels in America was probably the first play I saw in high school that really turned me on to theatre. It was shocking, provocative, and used the most innovative staging I had ever seen. Granted, I had not seen many plays before that time, but looking back now, after an undergrad and a masters degree in theatre, I know my instincts were not wrong. I can safely say now, after watching the play, going through school, and yesterday watching the movie--this is one of my favourite plays.
Now, the film. I realize film is a different medium than theatre, and, relying mainly on the visual, I understand that a film version of a novel, story, or play will ultimately show me much more than the original. Someone told me that in the film version of Angels, Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay as he really wanted the play to turn out--that is, how it could have been if he had all the materials, money, places, costumes, etc available to him that he desired.
I call bullshit.
Tony Kushner's play was fully conceived as a play that had minimal staging. It wasn't staged like that because of budget cuts or an insufficient amount of time. Furthermore, his play was written to be staged with minimal set; it wasn't just the conception of the director that made the play the thing it was. The beauty of Angels was that it was conceived in order to reveal theatre. It was meant to tear down the fourth wall, and let the audience see what makes theatre what it is.
The stage production did this in several ways. It double cast actors, it had a bare stage into which the actors wheeled on the set pieces they needed, and it revealed its special effects. When the angel came down, you could see the strings, it wasn't meant to fool you, but show you that something of this magnitude can be housed in theatre. The best example of this staging was when out of rubble, snow and debris, an actor created a path with a broom: this then became the hallway of an office where Belize and Pryor go to get AZT. Now I know that this staging was not Kushner's invention, but rather comes from a long line of theatre practitioners, in particular Bertolt Brecht, rebelling against the type of theatre that Stanislavsky, and before him the Duke Of Saxe Meinegen, and Kean envisioned. But the way in which Kushner envisioned and executed these ideas, is genius.
The movie showed us too much. The magic was gone, simply because now Hollywood magic, free of any strings, was inserted. We hear Harper, a mormon, valium addict, married to a closeted, homosexual lawyer, listening to Dr. Ruth before she can make a startling claim that she heard how to give a blow job on the radio. Pryor proclaiming he looks like a corpse when trying to pull off drag just doesn't work when he's dolled-up, prettied-up, made-up in 18th Century garb.
Al Pacino was great as Roy Cohn, but because he was trying very hard not to be Al Pacino, Cohn lacked some of the crassness the character needed. I'm still not convinced about Mary Louise Parker because she's constantly playing the valium addiction, slurring her speech, etc, though she was quite good. Patrick Wilson as Joe was too open from the beginning; he was too willing to talk, and not enough of a square, especially in the scene on the bench with Louis. And speaking of Louis, I missed the uber-jew, Alex Poch-Goldin in that role.
Baaaah. I could go on, but if you don't know the play, or the film, this will be lost on you. I just needed to get this out.
*sigh* I thought I liked the movie, but now, after discussing it, I think I only liked it because it reminded me how much I love this play.
I'll be watching the Second part soon, I'll update you again.
Have you ever had something you loved ruined when put into another form?
Days until Rufus: 5
Days until Sarah Harmer: 14
****************
Dogslife and I watched the first part of the HBO movie Angels in America last night. My feelings about it are mixed.
Let me preface this by saying, Angels in America was probably the first play I saw in high school that really turned me on to theatre. It was shocking, provocative, and used the most innovative staging I had ever seen. Granted, I had not seen many plays before that time, but looking back now, after an undergrad and a masters degree in theatre, I know my instincts were not wrong. I can safely say now, after watching the play, going through school, and yesterday watching the movie--this is one of my favourite plays.
Now, the film. I realize film is a different medium than theatre, and, relying mainly on the visual, I understand that a film version of a novel, story, or play will ultimately show me much more than the original. Someone told me that in the film version of Angels, Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay as he really wanted the play to turn out--that is, how it could have been if he had all the materials, money, places, costumes, etc available to him that he desired.
I call bullshit.
Tony Kushner's play was fully conceived as a play that had minimal staging. It wasn't staged like that because of budget cuts or an insufficient amount of time. Furthermore, his play was written to be staged with minimal set; it wasn't just the conception of the director that made the play the thing it was. The beauty of Angels was that it was conceived in order to reveal theatre. It was meant to tear down the fourth wall, and let the audience see what makes theatre what it is.
The stage production did this in several ways. It double cast actors, it had a bare stage into which the actors wheeled on the set pieces they needed, and it revealed its special effects. When the angel came down, you could see the strings, it wasn't meant to fool you, but show you that something of this magnitude can be housed in theatre. The best example of this staging was when out of rubble, snow and debris, an actor created a path with a broom: this then became the hallway of an office where Belize and Pryor go to get AZT. Now I know that this staging was not Kushner's invention, but rather comes from a long line of theatre practitioners, in particular Bertolt Brecht, rebelling against the type of theatre that Stanislavsky, and before him the Duke Of Saxe Meinegen, and Kean envisioned. But the way in which Kushner envisioned and executed these ideas, is genius.
The movie showed us too much. The magic was gone, simply because now Hollywood magic, free of any strings, was inserted. We hear Harper, a mormon, valium addict, married to a closeted, homosexual lawyer, listening to Dr. Ruth before she can make a startling claim that she heard how to give a blow job on the radio. Pryor proclaiming he looks like a corpse when trying to pull off drag just doesn't work when he's dolled-up, prettied-up, made-up in 18th Century garb.
Al Pacino was great as Roy Cohn, but because he was trying very hard not to be Al Pacino, Cohn lacked some of the crassness the character needed. I'm still not convinced about Mary Louise Parker because she's constantly playing the valium addiction, slurring her speech, etc, though she was quite good. Patrick Wilson as Joe was too open from the beginning; he was too willing to talk, and not enough of a square, especially in the scene on the bench with Louis. And speaking of Louis, I missed the uber-jew, Alex Poch-Goldin in that role.
Baaaah. I could go on, but if you don't know the play, or the film, this will be lost on you. I just needed to get this out.
*sigh* I thought I liked the movie, but now, after discussing it, I think I only liked it because it reminded me how much I love this play.
I'll be watching the Second part soon, I'll update you again.
Have you ever had something you loved ruined when put into another form?
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
i say we rent Spinal Tap and crank up to the "talk about mudflaps" part and GIT CRAZY.