GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

NOVEMBER 10, 1995

Evenings Out

Kushner's 'Angels' to descend on Cleveland and Columbus

by Michael Miller

Angels in America, the award-winning play described as a "two part, seven-hour meditation about love, politics, and religion set against the AIDS epidemic and the Reagan years," will be descending on Cleveland and Columbus this winter.

Thomas Viertel, who produced Angels on Broadway, will also be producing the nationwide tour. He defined the show as an "extraordinarily important play, with its message of tolerance and understanding in a difficult time."

Viertel's professional bio is impressive enough on its own merit, but even more so considering he became a producer as recently as 1985, after a lengthy career in real estate. With partners Richard Frankel and Steve Baruch, Viertel has produced shows such as Penn & Teller, Driving Miss Daisy, and Jeffrey.

In the overview of Viertel and company's credits, Angels is distinct as rising above the mainstream, at least in subject matter. Viertel emphasizes the sensibilities of the work.

"This play would stand out in anybody's bio. Nobody who produces wouldn't think of this as the highlight of what [he or she] had done. My producing career has always been about producing plays that I fell in love with, and this was one. I produced lighter things and more serious plays, but nothing of the magnitude of Angels.

Viertel went on to say that there were many things that attracted him to Angels. "It's a stunning event. When you see it, it will leave you reeling. It's seven hours of theatre that goes by like it's 11⁄2 hours long. It's riotously funny, it's wildly emotional. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry. It will make you understand things you never understood before, as it did for me. The story the play tells is a very, very exciting story, and ends with, I think, an audience that understands far more than they did going in about people, about the tragedy and dilemma of AIDS, about human nature."

Based on the mainstream media's coverage of Angels, it's perceived by many as an "AIDS play." Not so, according to a press release that answers some of the questions most commonly asked by ticket buyers. Angels is a play "which charts the break-ups of two relationships: a married Mormon couple and a married gay male couple. It's set in New York City in 1986, when AIDS has come to full force. Many of the characters speak of AIDS, and all are touched by it. The play's range of characters represents a crosssection of America and their problems."

Even the simplest works, whether oneacts, full-lengths, musicals, or monologues. must be presented with a point of view, some sort of personal polish imbued by the performers or, preferably, the entire company. This touring company put its own personal imprint on the show.

An angel visits the dying Prior in Part I of Angels in America

"They approached the material from a very human angle," Viertel said. "The New York production was highly epic. Everything was rather spectacular, and you were amazed all the time by the theatre craft of it. Here, what we've done, while we've kept all of the theatre craft, is focus much more closely on the human stories. This is much more about the people. These people are realer and are much more "in your face." This is a play you'll recognize all the way through."

The cast of Angels rehearsed for an extraordinarily long period of 11 weeks, when typically a show would be rehearsed for 3 to 5 weeks.

"This is such an enormous show because so much has to be done with developing the characters and having the actors discover who they are, not just in broad strokes, but in real detail," Viertel said.

Viertel expressed glowing praise for playwright Tony Kushner, saying that he had been enormously helpful during the rehearsal

period, giving the cast endless advice.

"Of all the pressure situations I've ever seen anyone in, I don't think I've ever seen anything remotely like finding yourself in the position of having the first half of your play win the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award, and then having to go out and write the second half, so it lives up to the first half," Viertel said of Kushner's accomplishment. "What can you say when everybody's calling it the greatest thing in the world and it's only the first half and you have to produce the second half?"

Viertel said that he felt the second half is better in many ways than the first half. "The first half is fun, but the second half is an absolute hoot. [Kushner] managed to keep all the humanity at a very high level. The stakes keep getting raised, everybody's crises get more pressing. He managed to keep the humanity there so you really believe these characters."

Viertel closed the conversation by im-

ploring people to see the play. "Angels in America needs to be seen across this country... it's important for America to see this play and I'm really proud and pleased to be associated with this particular production." In Cleveland, individuals can benefit two area organizations--the Clevelan Gay Center and the AIDS Taskford land-by purchasing tickets thre h these agencies. Both packages includ option and are expected to sell Call the Center at 216-522-19 Taskforce at 216-621-0766 for th mation.

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Tickets for the six-day Cleveland run, which begins Tuesday, December 5, are also available at the Playhouse Square box office at 1519 Euclid Avenue, all Advantix outlets or charge by phone at 216-241-6000.

Angels opens at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus for six days beginning Tuesday, January 23. Tickets go on sale November 17 at 614-224-7654.