Andre's Mother

*Andre's Mother*
Andre's Mother
Written by	Terrence McNally
Directed by	Deborah Reinisch
Starring	Richard Thomas; Sada Thompson; Sylvia Sidney
Music by	Jonathan Sheffer
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producer	Lindsay Law
Producers	Sarah Green; Deborah Reinisch
Cinematography	Bobby Bukowski
Editor	Jeffrey Wolf
Running time	50 minutes
Production company	American Playhouse
Original release
Network	PBS
Release	March 7, 1990

Andre's Mother is a 1990 American made-for-television drama film written by Terrence McNally, adapted from his 1988 stage play, directed by Deborah Reinisch and starring Richard Thomas, Sada Thompson, and Sylvia Sidney. It was broadcast on the PBS television program American Playhouse on March 7, 1990.

Plot

The play is set at the

AIDS and was buried in Dallas

several weeks earlier. Andre's mother Katharine cannot come to terms with his death or share her grief with Cal, Andre's lover. Her rage is directed not only at Cal and her own mother, who was less judgmental of her grandson's life, but at Andre himself as well.

Cast

Sada Thompson as Katharine Gerard, Andre's mother
Richard Thomas as Cal Porter, Andre's surviving lover
Sylvia Sidney as Mrs. Downs, Katharine's mother^[1]

Production

The screenplay by

Manhattan Theater Club in 1988.^[2]^[3]^[4]

The film was produced by

PBS stations nationwide as part of the American Playhouse series.^[1]

It was released on Region 1 DVD on April 25, 2006.

Critical reception

John O'Connor of The New York Times called it one of those

...programs that vividly illustrate why public television can be indispensable....
"Andre's Mother" has been given a superb cast and an exquisite production ....
Even in this sensitive exercise, obviously, the subject of AIDS is handled with some trepidation. Andre cannot be just an average guy; he has to be a paragon.... But the AIDS epidemic is claiming ordinary and exceptionally gifted citizens alike. Perhaps they can all merit television's unselfconscious compassion some day. Meanwhile, bolstered powerfully by the performances of Miss Thompson and Mr. Thomas, "Andre's Way" makes encouraging headway in the right direction.^[2]

Awards

McNally won the

National Board of Review

named it Outstanding Television Movie of the Year.

References

^ ^a ^b Andre's Mother paleycenter.org, accessed March 1, 2016
^ ^a ^b O'Connor, John J. (March 7, 1990). "Review/Television; Accepting the Lover of a Son Dead of AIDS". The New York Times. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
^ Haun, Harry. "'Andre's Mother' Derides Again: Playwright Terrence McNally Revisits Old Sorrows and Finds a New Life" The Observer, March 19, 2014
^ Brown, Patricia Lee. "Twenty Playwrights Survey Urban Life" The New York Times, June 19, 1988

External links

Andre's Mother at
IMDb

[paley-1] Andre's Mother paleycenter.org, accessed March 1, 2016

[NYTimes-2] O'Connor, John J. (March 7, 1990). "Review/Television; Accepting the Lover of a Son Dead of AIDS". The New York Times. Retrieved December 4, 2013.

[3] Haun, Harry. "'Andre's Mother' Derides Again: Playwright Terrence McNally Revisits Old Sorrows and Finds a New Life" The Observer, March 19, 2014

[4] Brown, Patricia Lee. "Twenty Playwrights Survey Urban Life" The New York Times, June 19, 1988

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