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A celebration of lives lost to AIDS told in free verse monologues with a blues, jazz and rock score, this piece is designed to include the community in a theatrical response to the AIDS crisis. It is often performed as a benefit for fund raising and consciousness raising.
Version 1
Elegies for Angels … (1992-11-King's Head Theatre-London)
Type de série: OriginalThéâtre: King's Head Theatre (Londres - Angleterre) Durée : 1 mois 1 semaine Nombre : Première Preview : InconnuPremière : lundi 16 novembre 1992Dernière : jeudi 24 décembre 1992Mise en scène : Bill Russel • Chorégraphie : Producteur : Avec : A cast of 33 performers (including a very early appearance of the unknown Lily Savage)Commentaires : This was a series of life stories of some 33 individuals who died from AIDS. The actors step forward one by one and talk in simple rhyming couplets about the disease that killed them. The youth from North Dakota who lived it up too wildly in Greenwich village; the star-struck son of fundamentalist parents who succumbed to AIDS after landing his first part in a Broadway show; the middle-aged man who decides death is “better than slowly growing old”; the clergyman who never came out of the closet; the grandma with the ill-fated blood transfusion; the ordinary Joe who visited a prostitute; the nurse who pricked herself with a needle, the black orphan kid born with the disease; and the monster who seduces young men in order to infect them.
Described as a theatrical representation of America’s Aids Memorial Quilt, one critics called it “… well-meaning, terminally fluffy, theatrically bereft and incurably American in its sentimentality”. The general reaction was respectful of its intent but scornful of the method. It transferred to the Drill Hall with some cast changes. (In the following year it would return to the West End in a slightly re-written version with a smaller cast)
Elegies For Angels Punks and Raging Queens is a dramatic and musical theater piece composed of free verse poems and songs reflecting the lives of people who have lived with and died from AIDS. There are over 30 poems… touching, dramatic, humorous. Each poem represents a character who has died from AIDS. The songs reflect the feeling of the living… the people who have felt the loss of so many friends and loved ones. Elegies… can be performed with a small group of actors playing several roles each or with one actor for each character, as has been done in the majority or stagings.
The piece was developed in the late 1980s and was originally titled "The Quilt." It was produced first at the Ohio Theatre in Soho in NYC in 1989, where the new title was adopted, and then again Off-off-Broadway in Manhattan's East Village in February 1990. In 1992, it was produced at the King's Head Theatre in London, where it played for several months. In June 1993, the production was transferred to the Criterion Theatre in London's West End, where it played until July of the same year. The London cast included Miquel Brown, Kim Criswell, Kwame Kwei-Armah, James Dreyfus, Simon Fanshawe and legendary drag queen Regina Fong.
Elegies was again performed in New York City on April 2, 2001 in the Haft Theatre at the Fashion Institute of Technology as a benefit for the Momentum AIDS Project. The cast for that performance included numerous well known performers including Alice Ripley, Emily Skinner, Brian d'Arcy James, Christopher Durang, Mario Cantone, Joe Piscopo and Norm Lewis. The concert was recorded, and the soundtrack was released by Fynsworth Alley in 2001.
On December 1, 2008, there was a West End Gala performance of the show at Soho Revue Bar, produced by Rebel Theatre and directed by Simon Pollard. The cast included Anna Chancellor, David Bedella, Leanne Jones, Les Dennis, Adele Anderson and Debbie Chazen. All proceeds from the performance went to the UK charity Terence Higgins Trust.
In addition to the New York and London productions of the piece, there have been professional productions in Australia, Germany and Israel, among other countries.
In Ireland, the premiere production in Northern Ireland was on 30 August 2010 at The Black Box in Belfast. The production featured a cast of 35 actors and singers, including a special video appearance by Graham Norton. A cast recording was released on 14 December 2010. All profits from the production and the recording were donated to the Rainbow Project. The premiere production in the Republic of Ireland was in September 2010 and was produced by Limerick's Bottom Dog Theatre Company.
Angels, Punks And Raging Queens
I'm Holding On To You
And The Rain Keeps Falling Down
I Don't Do That Anymore
I Don't Know How To Help You
Celebrate
Heroes All Around
Spend It While You Can
My Brother Lived In San Francisco
Learning To Let Go
The Songs from Elegies…
Version 1
Elegies for Angels … (1992-11-King's Head Theatre-London)
Type de série: OriginalThéâtre: King's Head Theatre (Londres - Angleterre) Durée : 1 mois 1 semaine Nombre : Première Preview : InconnuPremière : lundi 16 novembre 1992Dernière : jeudi 24 décembre 1992Mise en scène : Bill Russel • Chorégraphie : Producteur : Avec : A cast of 33 performers (including a very early appearance of the unknown Lily Savage)Commentaires : This was a series of life stories of some 33 individuals who died from AIDS. The actors step forward one by one and talk in simple rhyming couplets about the disease that killed them. The youth from North Dakota who lived it up too wildly in Greenwich village; the star-struck son of fundamentalist parents who succumbed to AIDS after landing his first part in a Broadway show; the middle-aged man who decides death is “better than slowly growing old”; the clergyman who never came out of the closet; the grandma with the ill-fated blood transfusion; the ordinary Joe who visited a prostitute; the nurse who pricked herself with a needle, the black orphan kid born with the disease; and the monster who seduces young men in order to infect them.
Described as a theatrical representation of America’s Aids Memorial Quilt, one critics called it “… well-meaning, terminally fluffy, theatrically bereft and incurably American in its sentimentality”. The general reaction was respectful of its intent but scornful of the method. It transferred to the Drill Hall with some cast changes. (In the following year it would return to the West End in a slightly re-written version with a smaller cast)
Version 2
Elegies for Angels … (1993-02-Drill Hall-London)
Type de série: Return EngagementThéâtre: Drill Hall (Londres - Angleterre) Durée : 4 semaines Nombre : Première Preview : InconnuPremière : mardi 19 janvier 1993Dernière : mercredi 17 février 1993Mise en scène : Bill Russel • Chorégraphie : Producteur : Avec : A cast of 33 performers (including a very early appearance of the unknown Lily Savage)Commentaires : This was a series of life stories of some 33 individuals who died from AIDS. The actors step forward one by one and talk in simple rhyming couplets about the disease that killed them. The youth from North Dakota who lived it up too wildly in Greenwich village; the star-struck son of fundamentalist parents who succumbed to AIDS after landing his first part in a Broadway show; the middle-aged man who decides death is “better than slowly growing old”; the clergyman who never came out of the closet; the grandma with the ill-fated blood transfusion; the ordinary Joe who visited a prostitute; the nurse who pricked herself with a needle, the black orphan kid born with the disease; and the monster who seduces young men in order to infect them.
Described as a theatrical representation of America’s Aids Memorial Quilt, one critics called it “… well-meaning, terminally fluffy, theatrically bereft and incurably American in its sentimentality”. The general reaction was respectful of its intent but scornful of the method. It transferred to the Drill Hall with some cast changes. (In the following year it would return to the West End in a slightly re-written version with a smaller cast)
Version 3
Elegies for Angels … (1993-06-Criterion Theatre-London)
Type de série: West End TransferThéâtre: Criterion Theatre (Londres - Angleterre) Durée : 3 semaines Nombre : 32 représentationsPremière Preview : InconnuPremière : lundi 28 juin 1993Dernière : samedi 24 juillet 1993Mise en scène : Bill Russel • Chorégraphie : Producteur : Avec : A cast of 23 performers including James Dreyfus, Sean Mathias, Graham Hoadley, Aidan Waters, Kim CriswellCommentaires : This was a revised production of the show which ran earlier in the year at the Drill Hall. In the larger venue it seemed to lose much of its impact, and only managed a four week run.
Version 4
Elegies for Angels … (2010-08-Shaw Theatre-London)
Type de série: RevivalThéâtre: Shaw Theatre (Londres - Angleterre) Durée : 2 semaines Nombre : Première Preview : mardi 10 août 2010Première : jeudi 12 août 2010Dernière : samedi 28 août 2010Mise en scène : John-Jackosn Almond • Chorégraphie : Omar F. Okai • Producteur : Avec : Miguel Brown, Jonathan Hellyer, Titti La Camp, Leon Lopez, Anna Mateo, West End Gospel ChoirCommentaires : Following significant progress in AIDS treatment since this piece was written, a new speech had been added to highlight the dangers of greeting such medical advances with complacency. Other updates included an attack on the pronouncements of current South African political leaders. However, the show was now felt to be outdated in its message and its format. It had simply lost its edge.
Version 5
Elegies For Angels, Punks and Raging Queens (2019-05-Union Theatre-London)
Type de série: RevivalThéâtre: Union Theatre (Londres - Angleterre) Durée : 3 semaines Nombre : Première Preview : mercredi 15 mai 2019Première : mercredi 15 mai 2019Dernière : samedi 08 juin 2019Mise en scène : Bryan Hodgson • Chorégraphie : Producteur :
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