`Angels in America, Pt. 1: Millennium Approaches' is, linguistically speaking, a much more accessible play. But it still suffers (as perhaps all plays must) from the lack of description beyond the words. In this regard, plays are very much more like poetry - they tend to latch on to single elements rather than taking the fuller form of narrative, and leave the rest to the imagination of the reader.

Tony Kushner's play is imaginative. Like great playwrights of old, he takes contemporary situations and figures and embellishes them, keeping faith with the overall meanings in society and the overall characters he's using, but is careful to make it known that this is a work of fiction.

We begin the play, staged (we are told) in the barest of scenery with a minimum of scene shifting and no black-outs - imagine, if you will, almost a stream of consciousness as the play progress - there is a funeral. A Jewish funeral. Not an unusual scene in New York, but the Rabbi doesn't know the woman, and so gives generic funereal orations.

Scene shifts to the office of Roy Cohn (alas, an all too real figure, but this is, Kushner emphasises, a fictional account). Here we encounter the high-powered, high-strung Cohn in his glorious best (or worst) while Joe (a conservative Mormon lawyer) is being chatted up for a job, which would put him in Cohn's debt.

Scene shifts - we see Joe's wife Harper planning a trip with a travel agent, Mr. Lies.

And so forth - in the course of this tale, we meet several people who are in various stages of AIDS. This is the meaning of the play. We encounter out gays and closeted gays, poor gays and rich gays, and the occasional straight suffering person, too. Often we have scene shifts and double scenes with two sets of action going on simultaneously. The moral issues of life with AIDS (which, as it happens, often reflect the moral issues of life more generally) are played out in political, social and religious terms.

Take, for instance, Louis, who attends the funeral (conducted by the Rabbi), who is contemplating leaving his lover Prior, who has started to show symptoms. The interplay between Louis and the Rabbi shows differing ideas not only between religions but also within religions toward difficulties.

Later, Cohn launches into an extended tale to his doctor of how he couldn't possibly be a homosexual:

`This is what a label refers to. Now to someone who does not understand this, homosexual is what I am because I have sex with men. But really this is wrong. Homosexuals are not men who sleep with other men. Homosexuals are men who in fifteen years of trying cannot get a pissant antidiscrimination bill through City Council. Homosexuals are men who now nobody and who nobody knows. Who have zero clout. Does this sound like me?'

Ultimately, denial is deep with Cohn.

Doctor: You have AIDS, Roy.
Cohn: No, Henry, no. AIDS is what homosexuals have. I have liver cancer.

Ultimately, issues of drug access, relationship building and deterioration, and the overall morality of life is played out among the characters. Perhaps the image of Ethel Rosenberg, who appears to Cohn in one of his weakened delusional states, says it best:

History is about to crack wide open. Millennium approaches.

The play concludes as an Angel makes a traumatic entry at the end (the cracking open that Rosenberg mentions, perhaps?) appearing to Prior, after we have witnessed Prior's now ex-lover Louis making a connection with our conservative Mormon lawyer Joe.

There is a message. We the audience are not told what it is.


Embarrasing, insulting, unfunny, and just plain bad   September 29, 2002
 13 out of 45 found this review helpful

Selections from a paper I wrote about this play. If you want the whole thing, email me--- The type of play we often call an "issues play" is difficult to write. Obviously, a social issue is examined by a playwright through a story involving characters affected by and affecting the specific issue. The issue must be dealt with both frankly and sensitively, seriously yet with a touch of humor, and realistically while still remaining universal enough for all audiences. Tony Kushner fails to find these delicate balances in his thoroughly obnoxious Angels in America Part 1: Millennium Approaches. Kushner tries to be sensitive, but ends up only looking like he is clumsily and unashamedly digging for pity. As for frankness, Kushner lacks not. To show us the extent of Prior's disease, Kushner feels the need to strip him completely down on stage. Again, Kushner is basically evoking pity, saying "look at this poor man! This is what homophobic white male supremacists have done to us!" Kushner has no problems remaining serious. He deals with a serious disease, a man's serious denial, and many other very, very serious issues. His problem is finding the humor. His script is a series of stilted, melodramatic scenes lightened with only awkward and supposedly comedic moments. They are only funny in the sense that the writing is so laughably bad. Is Angels in America realistic? Well, if you are a conservative straight white male who has never had any contact with homosexuality, you would think so. All the gay men are depicted as promiscuous "queen" types who cry and complain about everything. One thing Kushner does do right is explore many aspects of homosexuality through an array of characters. The characters are just completely one-dimensional and irksome. Probably the worst thing about the play was the incessant complaining. Never did a character overcome something and end up stronger. Even in the end, where we assume Joe and Louis end up together, one can only assume that it will end badly with Joe returning to the closet because of his religion and Louis not waiting around for him. All the characters are fundamentally weak. I apologize for speaking so negatively of such a renowned play, but I found it dull, preachy, whiny, and downright offensive. I understand the significance of this work. It was the very first play to explore these issues, which was the sole reason it won awards. Kushner, in reality, needs to examine his writing significantly. Had I not known Kushner was gay, I would have thought a straight male wrote this play to show what terrible people homosexuals are, to justify all the reasons they are to be scorned and hated, and to explain why God would send his angels to kill them off first. But, people love issues plays. They love to be able to read a play and feel like humanity has hope. The fact that Angels in America won the Pulitzer Prize does not give me much.


Close as you can come to reviewing Nichols' great HBO film   January 6, 2004
 9 out of 11 found this review helpful

Tony Kushner's "Angels in America: Millenium Approaches" is as close as you can come right now to reviewing the recent six-hour HBO special directed by Mike Nichols. That was set as two three-hour pieces, playing on back-to-back weekends. The first weekend was the complete three-act 'Millenium Approaches'; the second was Kushner's follow-up, 'Perestroika.'

'Millenium Approaches' won a Pulitzer for Kushner, and it's easy to see why. It's an amazingly literate discourse and masterful interweaving of three strands of gay life in America as it stood before triple therapy arrived and slowed down the impact of AIDS.

By contrast, 'Perestroika' feels different and distant - lots of soliloquies, extreme anger, archsymbolism - I felt like the high point of the six-hour spread was the angel's dramatic appearance at the end of 'Millenium.'

Remembering back to the play, I think all the actors in Nichols adaptation really found new levels for each of their characters. For example, Pacino nailed Roy Cohn's perverse sense of logic: homosexuals (and you can hear the quotes around it when Pacino utters the word) have no power; I have power; I am not a homosexual; therefore, I do not have AIDS, I have liver cancer. I've read Cohn's biography and this is truly the way he saw things. Kushner has him nailed & Pacino really captures the essence of Kushner's words.

The other thing worth noting is that Mary-Louise Parker does wonders with the role of Harper Pitt. I remember thinking of the character as overwhelmed on stage (compared to the other actors), but, wow, does she stand out in Nichols' adaptation. It's the best performance in the film, in my eyes.


Seems Dated Despite the Issues it Addresses   June 4, 2003
 7 out of 29 found this review helpful

Despite this play's dealing with late-twentieth-century issues, it seemed to me to come out a tradition from the first half of the twentieth century--derived largely from psychoanaltic thought--that one's motivations and behavior have little to do with spirituality and mostly to do with repression and sexuality. Then when I read the author's note I noticed that, indeed, he was inspired by those early-twentieth-century thinkers & writers. The play seemed old-fashioned to me.

That said, the characterizations are first-rate, and I can't wait for the amazing Jeffrey Wright to reprise his Tony-winning performance as Belize when HBO airs their production of "Angels."

I'd love to see a Part 3 where Joe and a new lover are married by a lesbian United Church of Christ pastor, demonstrating that it really is possible to be gay and Christian at the same time!


A Humanization (revised review)   May 13, 1999
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

A Humanization Tony Kushner's Angels in America skillfully presents genuine heartaches: loss, addiction, love, sexuality, and sickness. The play contrasts searches for integrity with complete denials of the self and releases a sense of authentic frustration. Kushner provides fascinating characters with realistic strengths and flaws. Courageously standing in the face of stereotypes, he embraces the development of individuals. Joe's identity becomes clear as he allows himself to develop into a more truthful person. Roy, on the other hand, continues to build walls hiding who he really is.

Kushner not only brilliantly captures real personalities while dealing with fantasy, but also relates them to the complicated, sometimes heartless world in which they exist. He poignantly addresses the loneliness and loss that is living, but does so with a sharp humor that keeps the pages rapidly turning. Angels in America is an incredible dramatic masterpiece that challenges a transformation of the soul into a true reflection of who we really are.