Posted: 2/25/18 at 1:24pm
In 1993, my 16 year old self was lucky enough to be on a family trip from Nebraska to New York City just after Part 1 of Angels in America, Millennium Approaches opened on Broadway. Being the president of my high school’s drama club, my parents were eager to introduce me to my first Broadway Theater experience. Now you might wonder how a teenage minor from the conservative midwest ended up at a show with such adult themes….well, most of it had to do with the fact that the internet wasn’t around for my parents to do any research. Walking past the old TKTS booth in a very different Times Square, flyer givers where passing out brochures. My Mom, being a good Catholic girl thought the title, “Angels in America” was a beautiful one. One had a quote from a review, “The most important play of the decade”. My father was sold. I give my parents a lot of credit, because these were ideas that I’m sure terrified them and probably outed me at 16 (even though it would be almost ten years later before actually I came out), but they did not walk out….they let me stay and watch the entire performance. It may sound clique now, but it was a formative moment for me. It was the first time that i fully connected with gay culture, with politics, with a kind of humor I knew I was attracted to, but was tentative to embrace. It also taught me so much about drama and tension. To this day I think it’s a great example for writers to study
Subsequently, I’ve seen the two other notable productions at Signature Theatre and at London’s National Theater, and of course, the film. And last night, I took in one of the first previews of the Broadway transfer of Millennium Approaches at the Neil Simon Theater. The best thing about this production in my opinion, is that it proves the writing still holds. Is it a messy melodrama? Yes, but it always was, and thats in part what Kushner is saying. America is a messy, messy place in all its free glory. And as George Wolf says, the end of the 20th Century was about us for the first time being in each other’s other. But I think the general consensus about the plays over the years has been that it’s now a dusty history play and people won’t have the sympathy for the characters they had at the height of the AIDS Crisis. Well I’m here to report that’s absolutely not true. The themes about the environment alone, the hole in the ozone, the melting of the polar ice caps, GLOW WITH RELEVANCY.
Marianne Elliott, the visionary director of the plays War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, who I believe has changed theater going in the last decade by employing fast paced film techniques to her productions, is an inspired choice for this revival. If for no other reason, because Kushner’s choice of scene structure is overtly cinematic. She lives up to her reputation here in that respect moving the action at a brisk pace between several small turn tables. As scenes happen the turn tables keep turning slowly. A brilliant interpretation of Prior’s line from Perestroika: The world only spins forward. But unfortunately for me, her script analyzation feels half baked, resulting in performances that are not as exacto knife precise as they were in George Wolf’s burned in my brain, not an intention out of place original character mapping. HE understood these characters implicitly…HE knew exactly who these people are and the motivation behind what they were saying. Im not sure Marianne always does. The biggest miss for me is, and let me preface it’s gotten better in the Broadway transfer, is the loss of the gay or camp humor. Kushner didn’t title it A GAY FANTASIA ON NATIONAL THEMES for nothing. He intentionally took the humor from the camp comedy of drag queens and queer lingo and it is severely lacking in this production (it was non existent in the London production). It doesn’t work without LEVITY. George Wolf knew that and because of it, that original company was at the same time searingly dramatic and sharply FUNNY. For those who are looking for that experience WAIT and see it later in the run, it’s starting to develop.
The minimal design by Ian MacNeil, lacks detail and misses opportunities for specificity, resulting in a cheap feel in Part 1, but comes to its full potential and poetic beauty in part two (minimal design at it’s best). The eternal midnight feel of Paul Constable’s lighting gives the production just the right mood of fear and uncertainty for the characters and the time period, while accenting it with neon bar lights that give it touch of street seediness and transcendent modernity. Nicky Gillibrand smartly chooses clothing that doesn’t date it, he adds just the right touches of the 1980’s, realizing that the era was fraught with terrible fashion design. His costumes feel classy. The music by Adrian Sutton takes its cue from the majesty of the original production, but it feels overdone. Wolf’s production was realistic and grand. Elliot’s is etherial and mythic and needs music that reflected her style choices more directly.
This cast has a very hard act to follow. The original company is one of the finest ever assembled in modern theater history, and then of course the film showcases some of the best work in the careers of Hollywood icons (shout out to Al Pacino). I will never forget Ron Leibman’s ferocious and indestructible Roy Cohn, the wallowing gallows humor of Stephen Spinella, the hilarious guilt of Joe Mantello, the giddy delusion of Marcia Gay Harden, or the irresistible and irreplaceable attitude of Jeffery Wright. That being said, Nathan Lane is believable as Cohn. He plays the comedy instead of letting it come from the truth, but he’s damn good at playing comedy so why not, right? He’s also a bit more tender than other Cohn’s I’ve seen. I hate to say it, but its tough to believe him in this role so it takes a the whole first act to really be on board with his take on this character. Lee Pace is a much better casting choice for Joe Pitt than Russell Tovey, he just needs more time to develop the part. James McArdle brings more of a naturalistic realism to Louis’ contradictions and guilt. He misses the comedy as a result but he is absolutely believable as a selfish conflicted ambivalent personalty type. Denise Gough is a revelation as Harper Pitt. Her performance is like watching a star in the making. Fresh off her TONY WORTHY performance in People Places and Things at St. Anne’s Wharehouse (a shame she’s not eligible for it). Her Harper is no pushover, she’s no weakling. She know’s exactly what is happening to her and why she does it and she is ready to go toe to toe with her husband in defense of it. She isn’t abusing pills to escape reality, she’s using them in search of answers, in search of the truth. It’s a marvelous new take on the role, bravo. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett fares better than most as Belize….he is not just a stereotype, but hard to imagine anyone better than Mr. Wright in the role. Nathan just isn’t Jeffery. Andrew Garfield unfortunately is the weak spot here. He’s playing gay here instead of just being gay…if feels gay faceish, and the result is close to disrespectful. He is all melodrama here, one note of some kind of false image of homosexuality. He misses almost every ounce of humor in the writing…in his defense he’s starting to understand it in NY, but still a long way away from being a believable Prior (the director’s decisions come into play here too. He shouldn’t take all the blame)….He is a decent actor, I commend his commitment to coming back to the theater, but he is just not right for the role of Prior Walter…it shows.
The most inspired choice in the entire two play production though, is Marianne’s take on the angel. Played with conviction by Amanda Lawrence. Now I believe this choice will be polarizing to many, and that being said, I don’t love the actual staging off the angel, but this one is anything but i triumphant. She is burnt, her wings singed from trying to put out the fires that man has created at the end of the 20th century. In fact the scenes in Heaven have never been highlighted to better effect. The Heaven in this production is dark, soot covered, ready to give up on earth. It doesn’t have enough power to save it. It needs more people like Prior for the great work to begin. Unfortunately the staging feels so cheap and gimmicky that it clouds such a fantastic choice. The angel crash lands into priors bedroom but its only done with a weak unclear strobe light effect. The gloriously strong break through the ceiling form Wolf’s production is sorely missed here. When the lights come to, four or five fully burnt demon’s control the angels flight through puppeteering of the wings and her body. The movement itself is inspired in some ways, imagined by the great Steven Hoggett, but the device feels truly low quality, almost as if they just didn’t want to deal with the trouble shooting that comes with flying someone on stage.
Overall I recommend this production. Good acting combined with a unique concept that proves the writing and truth of Mr. Tony Kushner still works, not just in ways sympathetic to the AIDS crisis but in ways that make us realize the World is at a defining turning point and it’s citizens need to wake up and protect it or else who will?
A brave and inspiring work of art.
