Preview Thoughts on Angels in America

Over the years, I've repeatedly chatted here about my love of big messy plays.  The bigger and messier, the better.  I love the reach and ambition and huge ideas.  And for some reason, I never really thought about WHY I love big messy plays.  But the answer slapped me in the face last week, when I went to see Angels in America.

Hello, OF COURSE Angels in America is the reason I love big messy plays!  It's the first one I ever saw - I saw the original production during a brief visit to the city (it ran during my hiatus from NYC) and I was simply gobsmacked, like everyone else.  I've carried those images in my brain for all of these years.  I saw the HBO version, which I enjoyed, but it wasn't the same as seeing this work of art on the stage.  I did not go to see the Off-Broadway production a few years ago and I have regrets about that - two of the actors are on my 'do not see' list, so I couldn't make myself go.  But two of the actors are usually on my 'must see' list, so I probably should've compromised with myself a little more.  Oh well.  I think waiting so long to see these plays again just made my return last week even better.

my view

As theater is so frigging expensive nowadays, I only went onto the Angels in America website as a lark, because I figured I wouldn't be able to afford to see it, especially since (at least at the beginning of ticket sales) they were forcing people to buy tickets to both parts, you couldn't pick and choose.  But when I looked at the seating charts, I discovered I could see both parts at a cost that seemed monumentally worth it to me, so I pulled out my credit card and bought on the spot.

I guess I didn't really notice on the seating chart that my seat was practically in the last row.  But it actually didn't especially matter.  A big messy play is large enough to be seen from anywhere.  The staging and the performances are all completely filling the stage and I didn't have a bit of trouble seeing or hearing anything.  I will admit to taking my binoculars along for part two, though, so I could sneak a close-up look at faces once or twice.

Enough blah blah blah, right?  Sometimes I wonder about my habit of providing backstory.  But I usually enjoy remembering my own memories, so I guess you'll just to skim through backstory, sorry.  To cut to the chase (finally):  I LOVED Angels in America!  I am ever so grateful that the production transferred here from London.  I loved seeing parts one and two on successive evenings.  I am so grateful I got to experience Tony Kushner's genius again.  I highly recommend everyone go see it.  Thank you.

As I was watching, I could hardly believe this play came out of someone's brain.  It's just so enormous, yet intimate, and says so much.  It says EVERYTHING.  You might think that because it was a response to the horrors of the Reagan administration and the beginnings of the AIDS crisis, that the play would be somehow dated, or a period piece.  IT'S NOT.  It is so current about the decay of our society and how we all need some kind of faith to lift each other up - we're all in this together and that's the only way the world can work.  We all have to be prepared to change and grow, or else we'll all be in trouble.  I was frankly surprised at how prescient the play seemed.  And not really in an 'everything old is new again' kind of way.  I don't really know how to describe what I mean, sorry, but I just thought this Angels in America is the play we need right now.  

These productions are still in previews, and although they've transferred from London, I gather they're still working on some things.  In part two, they actually stopped the show and dropped the curtain for a few minutes during the Mormon diorama scene.  So I'll only offer a few thoughts on the productions, since they haven't officially opened yet.

photo credit: Helen Maybanks

The acting, for the most part, was fantastic.  If there were a couple of actors whose choices bothered me a bit, that's ok.  They were all excellent storytellers, so I didn't feel as if what Kushner was trying to do with the play was marred in any way, I just didn't love all interpretations.  Nathan Lane is fantastic as the evil Roy Cohn, though he does carry some unfortunate baggage with him.  The audience is so used to laughing at him, and with him, that the laughter lasts a little bit too long for Roy.  But that's not Nathan's fault, it's the audience's.  I found him to be terrifically terrifying, as that character should be.  His scenes with the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg have some of the best acting I've seen in years  (I am a little prejudiced here, though, because I absolutely adore that character).  

photo credit: Helen Maybanks

Andrew Garfield, who I found far too callow in Death of a Salesman, was quite good here.  His arc was very nicely portrayed throughout and I found him to be moving, sassy, scared and very funny.  He also had wonderful chemistry with James McArdle as Louis.  Sidebar:  interestingly, the only performance that kept swimming over my eyes throughout both productions was Joe Mantello's Louis.  All of the other actors in this production moved front and center eventually, but Mantello's performance just stayed with me.  Not that McArdle was bad, he wasn't, but I don't know.  I seriously had Mantello on my brain the entire time.  Take that how you will, I did find it interesting.  I enjoyed Lee Pace as Joe Pitt quite a lot, but I'm predisposed to enjoy him, I found him to be terrific in both tv's Pushing Daisies and the Broadway production of The Normal Heart.  But I did think he captured Joe's struggle very well.

The way the Angel was staged was completely different from the original production and I really loved it - it had a very different kind of 'oomph,' but my heart was still racing and that ending of Millennium Approaches is still the most amazing triumph.  The audience truly leapt to their feat as one.  Oh, and going back for a moment, I did enjoy the actress who played the Angel and other characters in Millennium, but I was also pretty excited to see the understudy in Perestroika, Beth Malone, who I adored in Fun Home a few years ago.  So I feel as if I got the best of all possible worlds, to see both wonderful actresses take on this amazing character (well, several characters actually).

I didn't love some of the physical production, at least at the top of part one.  I thought the music was over the top and the set rather bothered me (especially the neon), but as the play progressed and opened up to the divine, I did appreciate where we ended up, if not how we got there.  If that even makes sense. :)  But all in all, I had just the best time and I highly recommend you get yourself over to the Neil Simon Theatre.  Yeah, it's a show in two parts that lasts about eight hours; yeah, it's a tad overwritten in places, but I say so what?!  Tony Kushner is a frigging genius and this is a piece of art that is always worth the viewings.  In my humble opinion, of course...

And since you've been so patient reading my 'thoughts' that probably last as long as the play itself, I present my seat neighbor reports: interestingly, I rather bonded with some of my seat neighbors.  I mean, we experienced nearly eight hours of wonderfulness together.  We all greeted each other very heartily when we reconvened for part two.  Gary, the usher in my section of the house, welcomed everyone back, which was sweet.  But I did make a few observations (of course I did):  I was a little puzzled by the couple who sat two rows apart from each other, each on an aisle, and the gent would leave his seat to walk down two steps to talk to his companion, then walk back up and sit down.  It was very strange, though they weren't as distracting as you might expect.  The couple sitting in front of me were putting on their own show - they were two of those people who speak really loudly and gesticulate really broadly to gain everyone's attention.  You know what I mean.  They weren't that excited, or oblivious to anyone but each other, they were just putting on their own show.  And they were a tad annoying.  The couple on my right was very pleasant, though the gal had a really loud and distracting laugh, sort of like the girl in Sleepless in Seattle.  So I wonder if this was an early date for the couple.  He would casually put his hand on hers when her response to a funny line was a little too loud, so...I don't know.  But mainly it was a wonderfully respectful audience - quiet, phones turned off, laughing, gasping and engaged.  And we truly did jump to our feet as one, to applaud not only the cast but also Tony Kushner's amazing work.  I'm so glad I was there.