LOS ANGELES, Sept 29 — Glenn Close, Laura Linney, Patti LuPone, Paul Dano, Brian Tyree Henry and Jeremy O. Harris will headline the Scenes from Angels in America broadcast on October 8 on Broadway.com’s YouTube channel to raise funds for the amfAR foundation.
While Tony Kushner’s Angels in America is a two-act play, only seven scenes were selected by amfAR because of their “relevance to and resonance with our present emergency,” i.e., the covid-19 pandemic.
The scenes were recorded on iPhones at home by the 15 actors headlining the broadcast, and helmed by director Ellie Heyman and creative director Paul Tate dePoo III. American composer Ellis-Ludwig-Leone also took part in the Tony Kushner adaptation.
Several actors and actresses will play the same Angels in America parts. Paul Dano, Brian Tyree Henry and Andrew Rannells will portray Prior Walter, a 30-year-old homosexual man who contracts the AIDS virus. Harper Pitt, a depressed housewife, will be played by Lois Smith and Vella Lovell.
This new adaptation will be followed by a live conversation with Tony Kushner, Ellie Heyman and amfAR CEO Kevin Robert Frost. Many actors featured on the broadcast will also take part in the conversation regarding political activism and covid-19 research. Viewers will also be able to make donations to amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research.
“Angels is an intensely personal work that is so much more than just an AIDS play and, in this time of covid and national unrest, its themes of racism and government failings make it as relevant and resonant today as it was when it was first performed 30 years ago,” said Kevin Robert Frost, in a press release. — AFP-Relaxnews
