Angels in America Part 1: Millennium Approaches
written by: Tony Kushner
Directed by Marianne Elliott
Neil Simon Theatre
June 7, 2018
Production website
💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

The Theatre just doesn’t get better than the last few minutes of Angels in America – Millenium Approaches.  All the magic and the prophecy  that is laid out in the the early scenes literally comes crashing down in the final moments of the play.  It is an epic moment – in the truest sense of the word.  The play itself starts out with some LOUD rolling epic music that nearly takes the roof off of the place, and you wonder is the play is EVER live up to that soundtrack.  Well, it does and then some!

This is the third time I have seen this play since it first opened and every time it becomes something new for me.  The first time I saw it – far from Broadway I remember holding on to all that was gay about the play.  It was about gay history and love and sex.  I just thought it was the boldest most wonderful expression of being gay.  But that was all my brain could handle for that visit.

The second time I saw Angels was at the Signature Theatre in a most intimate simple production.  Here I was so moved by the pathos in the play.  It became such an emotional roller coaster as I found more tears and more laughs then I ever imagined while reading the play.  All of those scenes holding each other in bed and preparing for the final visit of the Angel just got me.

Fast forward to this mainstream Broadway production with Nathan Lane and Andrew Garfield.  What struck me tonight was just how prophetic this play comes when it comes to predicting not just the new millinium but the current struggles in this country.  The bulk of the play deals with how as the millenium approaches we have replaced all of our sense of magic, miracles, faith and angels with politics.  We have lost our history – lost or sense of “Pryor”.  We have replaced prophecy with agenda.  We have become alone, isolated and trapped in Antarctica swallowing pills in fearing the ozone.  Where do we even get the courage to leave our homes in the morning?

And we hate ourself – that becomes so clear in this production.  AND we don’t stay – we just don’t stay!

I was worried that this big budget production was going to be so over-the-top with theatrics that the audiences was going to lose the humanity of the intimate –  but all of the big budget “wow” was kept just for those moments perfectly served by the audience.  If you don’t like Angels in Ameica, you just don’t like theatre.

“Beware prophet.  Millenium approaches.”