If you don't get HBO, find a friend who does. Invite yourself to dinner. Bring pizza. Whatever it takes, get yourself to a set where you can watch a momentous television event, part one of "Angels in America" from 8-11 p.m tonight.
Of course, as the pay channel's ads say, it's not television, "It's HBO." With a $60 million dollar budget and a movie-star cast of Al Pacino, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson, this production could never be on commercial television.
HBO doesn't have to consider the sensibilities of advertisers or the Federal Communications Commission. They simply take their 13 bucks a month from millions of subscribers and program whatever they want. They are betting that there are enough of us who will pay for programming that is not aimed at the lowest common denominator, and they are winning.
They also get unlimited runs for hit programs. "Angels in America" will run for three hours on successive Sundays. It will then run in hourly segments, and later all six hours will be presented. DVD sales are also sure to follow.
If you are unfamiliar with the play, Tony Kushner's epic drama first opened in the small Eureka Theatre in San Francisco in 1971. It was later expanded and went on to dominate the Broadway theater scene beginning in 1973, winning two Tony awards and the Pulitzer Prize.
Director Mike Nichols and Kushner make sure the new production is not simply a filming of a stage play. They have gone beyond the confines of the proscenium arch to film in several locations in New York and San Francisco.
The Messenger Has Arrived. HBO's Film site offers all the details regarding the making of "Angels in America."
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