The World Only Spins Forward
The Ascent of Angels in America
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
"Marvelous . . . A vital book about how to make political art that offers lasting solace in times of great trouble, and wisdom to audiences in the years that follow."- Washington Post
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR
A STONEWALL BOOK AWARDS HONOR BOOK
The oral history of Angels in America, as told by the artists who created it and the audiences forever changed by it--a moving account of the AIDS era, essential queer history, and an exuberant backstage tale.
When Tony Kushner's Angels in America hit Broadway in 1993, it won the Pulitzer Prize, swept the Tonys, launched a score of major careers, and changed the way gay lives were represented in popular culture. Mike Nichols's 2003 HBO adaptation starring Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, and Mary-Louise Parker was itself a tour de force, winning Golden Globes and eleven Emmys, and introducing the play to an even wider public. This generation-defining classic continues to shock, move, and inspire viewers worldwide.
Now, on the 25th anniversary of that Broadway premiere, Isaac Butler and Dan Kois offer the definitive account of Angels in America in the most fitting way possible: through oral history, the vibrant conversation and debate of actors (including Streep, Parker, Nathan Lane, and Jeffrey Wright), directors, producers, crew, and Kushner himself. Their intimate storytelling reveals the on- and offstage turmoil of the play's birth--a hard-won miracle beset by artistic roadblocks, technical disasters, and disputes both legal and creative. And historians and critics help to situate the play in the arc of American culture, from the staunch activism of the AIDS crisis through civil rights triumphs to our current era, whose politics are a dark echo of the Reagan '80s.
Expanded from a popular Slate cover story and built from nearly 250 interviews, The World Only Spins Forward is both a rollicking theater saga and an uplifting testament to one of the great works of American art of the past century, from its gritty San Francisco premiere to its starry, much-anticipated Broadway revival in 2018.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
To create this grand oral history of the Pulitzer- and Tony-winning drama Angels in America, Butler and Kois (writers for Slate) collected stories from about 250 people associated with Tony Kushner's play. Like guests at a fabulous cocktail party, these storytellers chat about the play's development, performance, impact, and continued relevance, their tales spanning the decades from the play's 1985 origin in a dream to the 2017 London revival. Stories about Kushner (director Declan Donnellan's memory of the rehearsal process: "Tony wanted to break my arm") pair well with the playwright's self-deprecating recollections ("For some reason Angels is always terrible at the first table read"). David Marshall Grant, who played Joe Pitt in the original Broadway production, remembers feeling he was "a part of something that was way beyond me"; lighting designer Casey Cowan recalled how, during one production, there was "a tiny lick of flame coming out of the floor!"; and Kushner himself admits that "I made a terrible mistake with the flying." Some familiarity with the play is helpful, but by the time this wide-ranging, occasionally chaotic conversation ends, even those who have never seen Angels will certainly be entertained and will come away with a great appreciation for the play. Photos.
