Missed buses, really late

Finally made it to "Angels in America" at the Intiman. Saw Part II for the matinee (my favorite part, probably my favorite script) and liked it so much I bought a ticket to Part I, which due to buses, I've just gotten home from.  Seven hours.  There was a 2 1/2 hour break in between.  I sat in a bar drinking soda water and talking to the staff (it was pretty quiet in there), and then went and did a bit of writing. (The shows plus the talk-back made it over seven hours.)

I'm glad I went to Part I, I hadn't seen it before (had seen Part II a few years ago.)  I like the characters of Harper and Prior better in Part I.  Like Roy Cohn, Belize, and Louis better in Part II, plus Hannah is mostly in that part, and I love that character.  The acting was fantastic (particularly Charles Leggett as Roy Cohn in Part II - seriously, Gregory Award nomination, and Anne Allgood in all the parts she played, oh, and Quinn Franzen as Louis Ironson (a character I don't really like when I read it, but I liked him as played in this production) in Part II.)  It's a struggle for me to like the character of Joe, for some reason he doesn't come across as having been written very sympathetically, I think it's the wishy-washy quality to him.  And as one of the other actors pointed out, he's the only one the ends the whole thing without any sorta' resolution.  It's interesting, Roy Cohn is so evil (strong word) but so resolute, that it makes the character more "likable." Maybe "interesting" is a better word (the actor has more to work with.  And by "likable" I mean I enjoy the time the character is on stage, it crackles with energy; he's a reprehensible man.)   Joe is a tough role.  At any rate, strong cast, a lot of risk-taking.  It was beautiful.

Someone commented to me earlier that people stay away from this theatre because of bad blood (from a long time ago) and said, "too bad for the actors for playing in that theatre if people don't come to the shows,"  implying that the actors shouldn't have accepted the parts.  (But these are dream roles for a lot of actors.  It's a great script.)  My feeling is that the theatre was reorganized, and this play doesn't get done much, and this was spectacular casting, and a fantastic show, so I feel that the loss is really on the people who can't get themselves over to see it.  I think they are missing out.

It's a powerful show.  The central core of it being about AIDS in the 1980's, but this script is pretty packed.  Someone in the audience said something beautiful about the power of words in this play, and God being found in the words, and the actions of each other, and also something about all the sides of a person getting seen.  There's also the nature of love, imagination, creativity, the letter from which all words begin, what you would do to save someone you love, compassion, loyalty, Mormonism, Judaism, fear, greed, sexuality, and finding commonality. Oh, and the parts of ourselves we keep in the closet and the freedom of being able to express that...I need to think about all this more, but I wanted to remember it.

(First picture is my attempt to get from the bus stop to the theatre and not being on the right street due to all the construction. Second is of the Intiman Courtyard, and a sculpture I'm quite fond of.)

Always Construction, Sept 14/L Herlevi 2014

Waiting, Sept 14/L Herlevi