Compassion takes wing in 'Angels in America'

By Terry Lawson
Knight Ridder News Service

When "Angels in America" was the most-talked-about play in the world, I attempted to see the New York production to no avail. I resigned myself to someday experiencing Tony Kushner's epic exploration of the state of things — circa the Reagan-AIDS epidemic years — in a road-show production, or through an abridged film version that I figured would shear it of the fabulist aspects and dramatic density critics and audiences admired.

While I remain disappointed that I failed to see "Angels" in its original form, there is compensation in Mike Nichols' award-winning HBO adaptation, available on a two-DVD set (HBO) that is, in a word, beautiful — beautiful to gaze upon, beautiful in its execution, beautiful in its kaleidoscopic survey of an America that for all its prejudice and close-mindedness is still worthy of angelic visitation.

For all its scope, grandeur and "Ragtime"-like mixing of fictional and historical characters, Nichols' "Angels" is straightforwardly told, a story of two couples whose relationships are severely tested in 1980s America.

A frightened Louis (Ben Shenkman) leaves after his lover Prior (Justin Kirk) informs him he has AIDS and becomes involved with Joe (Patrick Wilson), a married Mormon who is an aide to right-wing lawyer and powerbroker Roy Cohn (Al Pacino).

Joe's wife, Harper (Mary Louise Parker), dives deep into Valium-induced depression. Meanwhile, Cohn, himself a closeted gay with AIDS, picks philosophical fights with his nurse (Jeffrey Wright, repeating the role for which he won a Tony) and the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg (Meryl Streep), whom he helped send to the electric chair after she and her husband, Julius, were accused of being spies.

Streep plays two other roles in "Angels," as does Emma Thompson. But there is nothing confusing about the storytelling, even when Nichols employs split screens, dream sequences and other devices. For all of Kushner's unreserved flamboyance and artistic ambition — the play is subtitled "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes" — it is warm, accessible and, most of all, compassionate.

The Rosenbergs' story

Many younger people who did see "Angels" went searching for more information about the case of the Rosenbergs, as did Ivy Meeropol, who happens to be their granddaughter.

Knowing of them only through the romanticized memories of her father and uncle (who took the name of their adoptive parents after the Rosenbergs were executed), Meeropol went on her own quest to discover who her grandparents were and what they did. She shares her conclusions in "Heir to an Execution" (HBO), a documentary first screened at this year's Sundance Film Festival, then shown on HBO.

Though the did-they-or-didn't-they argument seems to have been solved — post-Soviet Union secret documents indicate Julius was directly involved in passing along classified information about the atomic bomb, while Ethel's involvement was probably peripheral — Meeropol comes to her own conclusions. She does so by talking to, among others, her father and two of her grandparents' former comrades in the American Communist Party. She also peruses public documents and private letters.

It's not the most sophisticated documentary you'll see, but it is one of the most heartfelt and emotional.

Watch Ringo sing

Those still longing to see a live Beatle perform have two choices: Secure a ticket to see Paul McCartney, which could set you back a couple of hundred bucks, or catch Ringo Starr on his almost annual summer shed tours with the ever-changing All-Starr Band.

If you have ever seen one of these good-natured revues — which in their best incarnations have included Todd Rundgren, Jack Bruce and the late John Entwistle — you know they're a lot of fun, and the vibe gets captured on "Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band: Tour 2003" (Rhino), a documentary combining performances from an assembly that included Sheila E. as second drummer, Colin Hay of Men At Work on guitar and Squeeze's Paul Carrack on keyboards. The attraction, though, is Ringo performing Beatles songs and solo tunes, including two from his fine album "Ringorama."