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| As Is had three Tony nominations. | |
| Posted by: portenopete 11:57 am EST 02/18/21 | |
| In reply to: For what it's worth, I saw "As Is" on Broadway, at the Lyceum, in late 1985. - tmdonahue 08:28 am EST 02/18/21 | |
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| 1985 was definitely the year when the mainstream culture started discussing AIDS. I was 19 and I saw As Is, too. (I never saw The Normal Heart, even though the NYSF/Public was on my theatre radar). As Is received three Tony nominations for Best Play, Director (Marshall Mason) and Actor (Jonathan Hogan). My ears were attuned to the crisis so maybe I exaggerated the feeling, but it seemed to me that there was a lot of attention in theatre, film and TV between 1985 and 1990. As soon as Rock Hudson died (1985) it started being talked about on network TV. An Early Frost was broadcast on ABC November 11, 1985, just a month after Hudson's death. It was a big deal that a hot young straight actor (Aidan Quinn) was playing a gay man and two Hollywood legends (Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands) were his parents. In 1986 the film Parting Glances was released (starring a beautiful young Steve Buscemi) and then in 1987 Randy Shilts' book And the Band Played On was released. And in 1989 came the ensemble drama Longtime Companion which really highlighted the effects on a whole community. After that it felt to me like the subject had been co-opted by straight filmmakers and filmgoers. Maybe Philadelphia's huge success was the apotheosis. And after AZT was available and proving effective (which coincided with Reagan finally acknowledging the disease) some of the immediacy of the despair and sorrow began to lift. (Admittedly this is very subjective.) By the time Angels in America got to Broadway in 1993 I thought there was already a sense of it being a history play. Very recent and raw, but still something that was past. Whereas As Is felt so immediate and shattering. |
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| re: As Is had three Tony nominations. | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 10:20 pm EST 02/18/21 | |
| In reply to: As Is had three Tony nominations. - portenopete 11:57 am EST 02/18/21 | |
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| I think of As Is and The Normal Heart as very different kinds of plays--the former more a domestic drama, with the public world in briefer interludes, but the focus on the couple; the latter more overtly and didactically political. As Is had more grace and nuanced emotion; The Normal Heart more sound and fury, signifying much. I am eternally grateful we had both. I think the Showtime version of As Is shows up for sale (used) on VHS from time to time. I think it would hold up perfectly fine, though, of course, some of the specific details would be limited by what was known and experienced by the time it was written. I wrote the playwright one of my only fan letters after I read it (it was published quickly), and he responded with a lovely note. I believe Hoffman became an academic and died just a few years ago. There are all kinds of ways of doing activism--his is, to me, as admirable as Kramer's (and I came top admire Kramer deeply--THINK what drama he would have made of all we are living through!) | |
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| re: As Is had three Tony nominations. | |
| Posted by: portenopete 08:11 am EST 02/19/21 | |
| In reply to: re: As Is had three Tony nominations. - BruceinIthaca 10:20 pm EST 02/18/21 | |
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| I think you are exactly right. I have only seen The Normal Heart in adulthood so I don't know how my 19-year old self would have processed it, but As Is felt like a very traditional, well-made play about a subject that had never been discussed in that way. I remember both Hogan and Hadary being wonderful and I left with a terrible crush on Lou Liberatore! (It was also my first time inside the exquisite Lyceum Theatre.) And in those days seeing anything about gay life- even something very tragic- was exciting for me. I also had the published script. Did you have the same one as I did? It was a tiny little hardcover, I seem to remember. Almost like the sides that actors get on film and TV sets every day. It's too bad The Normal Heart eclipsed As Is so completely. Mainly because Larry Kramer was such a high=profile activist, I guess. Getting that revival brought it to a whole new generation and it might have gotten extra glow from Angels' success, as it seemed to be a direct antecedent to Kushner's masterpiece. (Which then spawned another epic The Inheritance.) Didn't Hoffman write opera libretti after As Is? |
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| re: As Is had three Tony nominations. | |
| Posted by: larry13 10:32 am EST 02/19/21 | |
| In reply to: re: As Is had three Tony nominations. - portenopete 08:11 am EST 02/19/21 | |
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| Hoffman did write the libretto for John Corigliano's opera "Ghosts of Versailles," commissioned by the Met. | |
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| re: As Is had three Tony nominations. | |
| Posted by: dbdbdb 12:33 pm EST 02/18/21 | |
| In reply to: As Is had three Tony nominations. - portenopete 11:57 am EST 02/18/21 | |
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| I saw As Is several times. I always imagined it was rather like one of the Living Newspaper productions of the WPA. Although the main thread of the script followed the characters played by Jonathan Hadary and Jonathan Hogan, it was loaded with episodes and minor characters that gave a sense of the epidemic speaking through the entire community. It was extremely powerful at the time although something tells me it wouldn't hold up as well today, certainly not compared to The Normal Heart. | |
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| re: As Is had three Tony nominations. | |
| Posted by: mattyp4 01:17 am EST 02/20/21 | |
| In reply to: re: As Is had three Tony nominations. - dbdbdb 12:33 pm EST 02/18/21 | |
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| It was extremely powerful at the time although something tells me it wouldn't hold up as well today, certainly not compared to The Normal Heart. I saw the Regeneration Theatre production of As Is a few years back. I had only learned about the play a few years earlier & being a huge fan of The Normal Heart, I was very much looking forward to seeing a staged production. And it was.... okay. I had read the text by then so I knew the story, but the play still felt extremely dated & subdued. Granted it could have been the caliber of the production, but The Normal Heart still feels urgent, gripping & devastating to me. (I do very much appreciate As Is for being a pioneer AIDS play & I have been desperate to see the TV movie from 1986.) |
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| Link | Regeneration Theatre production of As Is |
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