In Mike Nichols’ HBO mini-series adaptation of Tony Kushner’s extravagant stage saga of the early years of the AIDS plague, Streep won an Emmy for playing no less than four roles: an angel, a rabbi (Streep is surprisingly convincing as a wry, bearded old Jewish man), a Mormon mom (who discovers in gay-friendly Manhattan a capacity for love she didn’t realize she carried within her), and Ethel Rosenberg’s ghost. As wildly different as the four characters are, Streep connects them with a thread of grace and mercy.
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