Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes Part One: Millunnium Approaches | 
pickI had the opportunity to hear Kushner speak a few years ago and it was amazing. I also got a signed copy of his Pulitzer Prize winning play, a work I was familiar with but had never read nor seen on stage. It‘s a powerful story that offers an unflinching look at the AIDS epidemic, the stigma, fear, devastation, & lack of understanding. It also touches on racism, antisemitism, politics & more. An incredible read that gives you a lot to think about.
pickBetter late than never… I was so impressed with the audio production of this play, which I had never seen or read in any format previously. It‘s set during the AIDS epidemic in 1980s New York City and is deserving of its many accolades. The full cast performance of both parts, plus additional narration and music, made the audio 7 hours long. I was riveted the entire time. #LGBTQ #Queer #classic
All-Queer Edition of Friday Reads June 30, 2023; plus lots of chatting about this and that
https://youtu.be/vgl1aHfw2Os
pickWonderful as an audiobook! Was riveted by the performances.
Read for #booked2022
#MCorauthorlivingwithHIVAIDS
Went to a book event for the first time in ages last night & it was fabulous. CPL Foundation award winners included a local historian making a name for himself on TikTok, Chef Rick Bayless who is a major force in the restaurant scene & the Carl Sandburg Literary Award Winner playwright Tony Kushner who talked about his Pulitzer Prize winning play, the tagged book, working with Spielberg on Lincoln & much more. Came home with a couple new books…
pickUnfortunately makes me never want to write a play again because who could possibly compare?
pickThis is a very long and unusual play. It‘s sort of like a meandering nightmare with a story threaded through. If you want to read it, I would recommend listening to the audiobook of the outstanding Broadway cast. I read it for the Read Harder Challenge.
#readharder #lgbt @bookriot
pickI‘m still a believer that plays are made to be staged and seen, not printed and read. That being said, I found Angels in America immensely affecting, and I am glad I read it. Much more than a story of the AIDS epidemic, this is a story of humanity in crisis. It asks us big questions about who we are when faced with our own mortality, and the mortality of those we love, as well as what it means to feel like you need to be someone you are not.
pickI‘m still a believer that plays are made to be staged and seen, not printed and read. That being said, I found Angels in America immensely affecting, and I am glad I read it. Much more than a story of the AIDS epidemic, this is a story of humanity in crisis. It asks us big questions about who we are when faced with our own mortality, and the mortality of those we love, as well as what it means to feel like you need to be someone you are not.
Still relevant #readharder2020
pickThe cast of the Broadway play (based on the book Angels in America) narrates and performs the play with sound effects on this #audiobook. Brilliant and timely, even though it's set during the AIDS epidemic in NYC the 80s. Politics are heavily featured but also still relevant. Religion, homosexuality, justice and laws, acceptance, mental health, and more. This recording is a finalist for the #audieawards Audiobook of the Year and I see why. 🎧
So between the audiobooks I am listening to & those I have for up next, it‘s a little... intense. Any suggestions for something a little lighter to throw into the mix?
Audiobooks with full casts & productions need special content warnings. Specifically, at this point in the audio there is either a police or an ambulance siren. As I was driving down the road, I thought it was real and proceeded to gun it through the intersection so I could pull over. It was not real. 🤦🏼♀️🚨
Night flight to San Francisco; chasing the moon across America.
I saw Perestroika on Broadway last week and I find myself pulling out the copy I have to find all the passages that resonate with me again. So gutting, so beautiful, so human, so important.
pickI want to see this play performed on stage. Reading the text is a powerful, heartbreaking experience. I can‘t imagine the energy that a live performance must bring to the work. I am glad that I read it, even though it hurt my heart.
Saw part two of this today after seeing part one last week. Absolutely amazing! Just mind-blowingly good from start to finish. I am shook.
The Librarian Is In podcast devoted two episodes to discussing this play. They agreed that reading the play is an awesome experience in itself if you cannot get to a production. I had to order a copy. I have always wanted to see it performed, but I have waited long enough for this story.
1 show, 2 parts over 2 days, 4 intermissions, and over 8 hours total. The longest single theatre experience I've ever had and I loved every second of it. What a fantastic show, and by far my favorite play (I usually tend to gravitate towards musicals)
👏🏽🏳️🌈😇 #Broadway
Yaaassss, just grabbed tix to see this on Broadway in previews. Can't 👏🏽 friggin 👏🏽 wait!
pickThe world only spins forward. We will be citizens.
Enjoyed revisiting this play very much. This is such a great reminder of what we have gone through to get to where we are today. It is so applicable to the world we are living in now. There are so many connections to today in this book. It is painful to consider the history. Thank you @Susannah for choosing this for #qgp2
Ready to start my next #ggp2 . Thanks for the excellent choice @Susannah . I am looking forward to it @Bibliogeekery
pickI'm so happy that #QGP2 gave me a reason to finally read this #queerbooks classic. I'd only seen the TV version previously. It's a weird play - no doubt about that - but it so eloquently captures the AIDS crisis of the 80s. It made me think about how far knowledge and treatment of HIV has come. So interesting that so many people stay locked in 80s ideas of transmission and stigma. Some of the philosophical monologues were a bit much for me.
"Together we organize our understanding of it; we reflect, refract it, criticize, grieve over it's savagery and help each other to discern, amidst the gathering dark, paths of resistance, pockets of peace and places whence hope may be plausibly expected." ?
Reading with a view 😍!
Back to this classic! #queerbooks #cottagereads
My Halloween costume is my ex-lover's lover's Mormon mother. That's a bit of a head scratcher 🤔. This book is so weird, I love it! 😂
Wow! We went to the first part of the taped National Theater Live production tonight, and it was spectacular! Any filmed theater production is bound to lose a little something, but this was phenomenal. Andrew Garfield is a revelation as Prior Walter, and Nathan Lane is having the time of his life as Roy Cohn. The work is maybe my favorite piece of American drama, and I feel so lucky I got to see this taped production! Can't wait for part 2!
"This is not sophistry. And this is not hypocrisy. This is reality. I have sex with men. But unlike nearly every other man of whom this is true, I bring the guy I‘m screwing to the White House, and President Reagan smiles at us and shakes his hand, because, what I am is defined entirely by who I am. Roy Cohn is not a homosexual. Roy Cohn is a heterosexual man, Henry, who fucks around with guys."
Got my tix to see Nathan Lane for the simulcast!
pickThis was my 2nd time recently reading a play format and enjoyed it much more (first was Harry Potter). Probably because I was familiar with versions of this on screen and stage. Tough and powerful subject. Having grown up during AIDS hitting popular culture, watching it move from a "gay disease" to Magic Johnson. Shout out to Ali Bibliogeekery for putting the queer book club together. Every single book has been a hit. Thank you!!! #QGP2 ❤️
Book stores have the coolest displays. This is the national theatre book shop on London's South Bank :) which is open till 10.45 😮 love late night noon shopping!
pickWHERE HAVE I BEEN!? For round 2 of #queersgopostal, I received Angels in America. I read it while simultaneously watching the HBO production and I must say, I was glued to this story for SIX HOURS last night. It was thrilling, daring, hilarious, tender, and as somebody who loves Rent and HBO's "Looking," I was in my happy place. This is an epic play about life/death/AIDS and I would have missed out on the magic without @Susannah !
I ❤️ Prior. ⬇️
Today will be hard. What we are facing is frightening and not easy. But we will fight. This fight will take many forms. It will have many fronts. It will be long. It will be hard. It will rend our hearts and try our souls. We will win, we will lose. But we will fight. We will fight with our minds, our voices. Our words, our songs. Our art. Our love of art, because art always matters. Try to have the best day you can. I'm here for you all.
pickIntense and beautiful. Love, betrayal, strength and weakness....it is all there.
#PhotoADayNov16 - Published in the 90's
When I think of the 1990's, I immediately go to the great works of theater. So many groundbreaking plays were premiered in that decade, including The Vagina Monologues, Uncommon Women and Others, and Angels in America.
#overit #theater #drama #inthe90s
pickOmfg bonkers. And I've gotten an amazing research idea out of it.
I read Angels in America for the first time when I was 17, and I remember being mostly baffled by it, especially Part 2, Perestroika. But each time I read it, I can gauge how well I've chipped away at my ignorance. Still overwhelming, occasionally baffling, always thrilling. http://slate.me/2914dgc
Slate published an oral history of Angels in America today. READ IT. This play (two plays, but one long narrative) is mind-altering. We tried to do a production in about '95 in HS drama but you can guess how well that went over in Iowa in a high school that had to cut all F-bombs from Noises Off...
pickRe-read Angels in America. Once again, I am completely knocked out. Kushner wields language like a weapon. Anger and Joy. Hope and Despair.
One wants to move through life with elegance and grace, blossoming infrequently but with exquisite taste and perfect timing, like a rare bloom...a zebra orchid.
