Greetings, theatre-lovers! The great work begins! The audiobook has arrived!
Tony Kushner’s acclaimed and award-winning play in two parts, Angels in America, is now available as an audiobook production that captures the theatrical experience in a new way, for a new type of audience. This must-have addition to your prized collection of Original Broadway Cast Recording albums is unlike any Broadway cast album you’ve had before. Here’s what you need to know about this unique listening experience.
- The audiobook is performed by the full cast of the National Theatre’s 2018 Broadway revival, including Tony Winners Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane.
The winner of three Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Play, Best Actor in a Play (Andrew Garfield) and Best Featured Actor in a Play (Nathan Lane), Angels in America on audiobook means anyone now has intimate front row access to one of the most celebrated theatre experiences of our time—with the full Broadway cast intact. Listeners will hear: Andrew Garfield as Prior Walter; Nathan Lane as Roy M. Cohn; Susan Brown as Hannah Pitt; Denise Gough as Harper Pitt; Beth Malone as The Angel; James McArdle as Louis Ironson; Lee Pace as Joseph Pitt; and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Belize. Listening to this audiobook at home gives new meaning to “house seats” as you hear these amazing actors bring Angels to life once more. - The actors each recorded their parts separately.
That’s right. Not only did no two actors record their scenes in the same room at the same time, but the audiobook was actually recorded over six months and across an ocean, from the US to the UK, long after the actors took their final Broadway bow. But listening to the final production—every intimate conversation, every argument, every revelation—the listener would never know it. - Bobby Cannavale and Edie Falco set the scene.
With their iconic and recognizable “New Yorker” sensibilities, these award-winning actors, who were not part of the Broadway production, orient the listener by reading select stage directions where the action needs to be explained. Listeners have two helpful guides to take them by the hand on this journey through the characters’ lives. - The audiobook features the play’s original musical score.
Tony-nominated sound designer Adrian Sutton was thrilled to have his complete score be part of the audiobook. An integral part of the staged production, Sutton’s music and sound design were carefully added in to create an immersive experience on audiobook, demarcating each scene, and working seamlessly with the audio production’s soundscapes and narrative to help listeners “see” the story. - “We wanted the sound of the Angel flying to be terrifying.”
Audiobook producers Karen Dziekonski and Dan Zitt spent hours listening to the edit and carefully refining every detail, from the actors’ pacing, to the pauses, to the highly-researched sound effects. They worked with post-production team Ted and Heather Scott who explain, “With Angels we endeavored to create an intimate experience, placing the listener right on stage between the actors, or invisible within the scene in their minds, by using occasional vocal effects, ambiences, and subtle stereo mixing to tie everything together. We wanted the sound of the Angel flying to be terrifying, like something that would make you want to run as fast as you can, even if you knew you could never get away. The challenge was to balance the real with the magical and mystical aspects of the play, knowing when to keep it simple and when to go all out.”
LISTEN TO A CLIP:
Rave reviews:
“Thrilling…[Angels in America] works brilliantly as a radio-style production with ambient sound effects and Adrian Sutton’s electrifying instrumental score adding to an already rich listening experience… Theater fans will cherish this thoughtfully produced title that does justice to Kushner’s masterful creation.”—Booklist, starred audio review
“If you didn’t have the chance to see Tony Kushner’s Angels in America on Broadway, this is the next best thing…[the performances] are masterful.”—BookPage, audio review
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Entertainment Weekly: “Thanks to the world of audio, New York theater is being revolutionized” (May 10, 2019) Includes 2 exclusive audio clips from Angels in America
