Angels in America
God has abandoned Heaven. It's 1985: the Reagans are in the White House and Death swings the scythe of AIDS. In Manhattan, Prior Walter tells Louis, his lover of four years, he's ill; Louis leaves but asvdisease and loneliness ravage Prior, guilt invades Louis. Joe Pitt, a Mormon Republican attorney, is pushed by right-wing fixer Roy Cohn toward a job at the Justice Department. Pitt and Cohn are closeted: Pitt, out of shame and religious turmoil; Cohn, to preserve his power and access. Pitt's wife Harper is strung out on Valium, aching to escape a sexless marriage. An angel invites Prior to be a prophet in death.
Overview
God has abandoned Heaven. It's 1985: the Reagans are in the White House and Death swings the scythe of AIDS. In Manhattan, Prior Walter tells Louis, his lover of four years, he's ill; Louis leaves but asvdisease and loneliness ravage Prior, guilt invades Louis. Joe Pitt, a Mormon Republican attorney, is pushed by right-wing fixer Roy Cohn toward a job at the Justice Department. Pitt and Cohn are closeted: Pitt, out of shame and religious turmoil; Cohn, to preserve his power and access. Pitt's wife Harper is strung out on Valium, aching to escape a sexless marriage. An angel invites Prior to be a prophet in death.
Mike Nichols
Creator / EP
Celia D. Costas
Producer
Episodes
1. Millennium Approaches: Bad News
Prior Walter is diagnosed with AIDS that changes his life and he must deal with such new obstacle. Moreover, his partner abandoned him. He has also increasing hallucinations and Mormon's mother comes to New York in order to save her son's marriage. Meanwhile, Roy Cohn checks into the hospital.
2. Millennium Approaches: In Vitro
Louis abandons a hospitalized Prior; Joe and Roy confide in each other over drinks. Later, Prior hears voices from his hospital bed while Louis solicits sex from strangers, and Joe makes a drunken confession to his mother.
3. Millennium Approaches: The Messenger
Prior returns home and is visited by a pair of spectral namesake ancestors who herald the arrival of the messenger; a tussle with Joe leaves Roy with the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg. Later, Joe and Louis hook up in Central Park while Prior meets the angelic messenger.
Cast & Crew
Al Pacino
Roy Cohn
Justin Kirk
Prior Walter / Leatherman in the Park
Ben Shenkman
Louis Ironson / The Angel Oceania
Mary-Louise Parker
Harper Pitt
Meryl Streep
Hannah Pitt / Ethel Rosenberg / The Rabbi / The Angel Australia
Jeffrey Wright
Norman 'Belize' Ariaga / Mr. Lies / Homeless man / The Angel Europa
