| 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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| Previous: | 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 |
| Next: | re: As Is had three Tony nominations. - BruceinIthaca 10:20 pm EST 02/18/21 |
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