Angels in America – Fact Sheet

COMPOSER: Peter Eötvös
LIBRETTIST: Mari Mezei, after the play by Tony Kushner

FORT WORTH OPERA DATES / TIMES / LOCATION

Friday, May 16, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Sunday, May 18, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Saturday, May 24, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, May 31, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 2 pm
All Performances will be held at the Scott Theatre located in the Arts District of Fort Worth, Texas

CHARACTERS & PRIMARY CAST

Prior Walter — David Adam Moore
The Angel — Ava Pine
Hannah Pitt — Janice Hall
Harper Pitt — Erin Smith
Joseph “Joe” Pitt — Craig Verm
Louis Ironson — Scott Scully
Belize — To be announced
Roy Cohn — Kelly Anderson

Conductor — Christopher Larkin
Director — David Gately

PRODUCTION

Performed in English with projected English subtitles. New production with set design by Peter Nigrini and Claudia Stephens.

TICKETS

Season Tickets: Include Lucia di Lammermoor, Turandot and Of Mice and Men. Complimentary vouchers to Angels in America will be included in all Friday, Saturday and Sunday Series packages. Weekend Packages include guaranteed seating to Angels in America. $50-$412 each. Call 817.731.0726, toll-free 1.877.FWOPERA (396-7372) or go online at www.fwopera.org

Single Tickets: $17 - $52. Students & military half-price with ID. Student rush pricing for Angels is $5 for any available seat starting 30 minutes prior to curtain with ID. Call 817.731.0726 or toll-free 1.877.FWOPERA (396-7372) or go online at www.fwopera.org.

BACKGROUND

Based on Tony Kushner's Pulitzer prize winning play, Angels in America takes place in New York City and is a moving tale of AIDS during the Reagan years. While it gives audiences a glimpse of the politics and social environment of the time, the raw humanity, at its best and worst, makes Angles in America a timeless work of art. The opera is a condensed version of the play and was commissioned by the Théâtre du Châtelet Paris and was first performed in November, 2004. Fort Worth Opera’s production will be produced in conjunction with More Life: the Art and Science of AIDS, a series of performances, exhibits and programs designed to focus attention on the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. STORY: When Prior Walter tells his boyfriend, Louis, that he has AIDS; Louis leaves him. Meanwhile another couple, Joe and his wife Harper, are also having trouble. Joe is gay and in the closet, Harper escapes her sexless marriage by taking Valium. Prior begins seeing visions of an Angel who tells him he is a prophet. Belize, his friend, stands by him and, while at his job as a nurse, treats Roy Cohn who also has AIDS but vehemently denies it, saying he has cancer. Louis and Joe meet and become lovers. Joe calls his Mormon mother, Hannah, who comes to New York to try to help her son and Harper. She ends up meeting Prior and administers both help and spiritual advice. When Roy Cohn dies, Belize takes his experimental medications to give to Prior. Prior, with the help of Belize, Hannah and a blessing by the Angel, gets his disease under control and declares he has “more life.”