As we wrap up our discussion of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America in today’s Writing New York lecture, we’ll be talking in part about what Kushner gets out of incorporating historical figures such as Roy Cohn and Ethel Rosenberg into his play. Readers who want to get a handle on what Cohn meant in 1988, right about the time Kushner’s play begins to gestate, might check out Cohn’s Life magazine obit. In terms of New York City cultural history, the play situates Cohn most closely within the story of the Rosenberg executions; another place to turn is Cohn’s close association, in the 70s, with the owners of Studio 54 (pictured above). Certainly an individual full of contradictions.
This is an interesting obit because it humanizes Cohn, whereas in the play, he seems so cruel and inhumane.
I agree — he was a more complex character than the villain allowed. I think Kushner displaces the Studio 54 Cohn on purpose.
Still, Roy’s character has a strange charisma. And he gets off the hook in the end in a way Joe doesn’t, don’t you think?
I would agree with that statement. I think Roy gets off the hook because we know he is a sick and dying man who is old and unwilling or maybe even unable to change; however, Joe is young and strong, yet he blindly accepts things the way they are and even defends them because of his Republican/Reagan/Mormon values.