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? |
