Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning landmark play ‘Angels in America’ recently began its revival Off Broadway at the 160-seat Signature Theatre. The play stars Zachary Quinto (Star Trek’s Mr. Spock) and Bill Heck. It is directed by Michael Greif.
The reviews of the play have been uniformly excellent. The performers have been lauded for their outstanding work – Quinto in particular has been singled out. And while ‘Angels’ may not have the brutal relevance it did when it opened 17 years ago, the production only confirms the enormity and brilliance of Kushner’s work.
Here are some reviews:
The truth is we’ve gotten used to “Angels in America” in the intervening years; we’ve grown accustomed to the theatrical audacity and intellectual reach of this study in the intersection of personal, political and cosmic crises in the early days of the AIDS epidemic. The play has never left our cultural consciousness. It is performed regularly in schools and local theaters; it is on the syllabuses of university English and drama classes, and the star-filled 2003 HBO adaptation, directed by Mike Nichols, is in many a home-video library. – NY Times
Remarkably, Angels loses none of its grandeur in director Michael Greif’s revival. And the seven-hour production’s quieter moments — the dream/hallucinations of Valium addict Harper (Zoe Kazan) and quipping-in-the-face-of-death Prior (Christian Borle, who could afford to dial it down a notch); the electric first kisses between married Mormon attorney Joe (Bill Heck) and incurable narcissist Louis (Star Trek’s Zachary Quinto, in a stunning New York stage debut); Ethel Rosenberg’s ghost (Robin Bartlett) saying Kaddish for Roy Cohn (Frank Wood) — shimmer with newfound intimacy and unspeakable beauty. – EW
Tony Kushner’s epic masterpiece, Angels in America, is brought to vivid life in Michael Greif’s compelling but imperfect revival, at Signature Theatre Company’s Peter Norton Space. The play’s two parts — Millennium Approaches and Perestroika — are presented in rotating repertory and ably demonstrate Kushner’s intelligent, provocative, witty, and emotionally charged approach to issues such as the AIDS crisis, religion, political power, morality, and forgiveness. – Theatre Mania