Angels in America

Angels in America: Perestroika
Angels in America: Perestroika
Written by	Tony Kushner
Characters	Prior Walter; Roy Cohn; Joe Pitt; Harper Pitt; Hannah Pitt; Louis Ironson; Belize; Ethel Rosenberg; Homeless Woman; Angel
Date premiered	November 8, 1992
Place premiered	Mark Taper Forum; Los Angeles, California
Original language	English
Genre	Drama
Setting	New York City, the Kremlin, heaven, and elsewhere, 1986–1990

Angels in America
Angels in America
Written by	Tony Kushner
Characters	Prior Walter; Roy Cohn; Joe Pitt; Harper Pitt; Hannah Pitt; Louis Ironson; Belize; Ethel Rosenberg; Homeless Woman; Angel
Date premiered	May 1991
Place premiered	Eureka Theatre Company; San Francisco, California
Original language	English
Genre	Drama
Setting	New York City, Salt Lake City, and elsewhere, 1985–1986

Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is a 1991 American two-part play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The two parts of the play, Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, may be presented separately. The work won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. Part one of the play premiered in 1991, followed by part two in 1992.^[1]^[2] Its Broadway opening was in 1993.^[1]

The play is a complex, often metaphorical, and at times symbolic examination of AIDS and homosexuality in the United States in the 1980s. Certain major and minor characters are supernatural beings (angels) or deceased persons (ghosts). The play contains multiple roles for several actors. Initially and primarily focusing on one gay and one straight couple in Manhattan, the plot has several additional storylines, some of which intersect occasionally.

In 1994, playwright and professor of theater studies John M. Clum called the play "a turning point in the history of gay drama, the history of American drama, and of American literary culture".^[3] It is widely described as one of the greatest plays of the 20th century and of all time.^[a]

In 2003, HBO adapted Angels in America into a six-episode miniseries of the same title. In the Sunday, June 25, 2006, edition of The Record, in an article headlined “An AIDS anniversary: 25 years in the arts”, Bill Ervolino listed the miniseries among the 12 best filmed portrayals of AIDS to date.^[15]

In 2017, the play received a much-acclaimed West End revival that won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival in 2018. Later that year the production transferred to Broadway, where it won three Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Play.

^ ^a ^b "Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches Introduction". Shmoop. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
^ Lahr, John (November 15, 1992). "Tony Kushner and the Making of "Angels in America"". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
^ "Introduction" in Geis, Deborah R.; Kruger, Steven F. (eds.) (1997). Approaching the Millennium: Essays on Angels in America. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, p. 1, citing John M. Clum, Male Homosexuality in Modern Drama, New York: Columbia University Press, 1994, p. 324.
^ Lister, David (October 18, 1998). "'Waiting for Godot' voted best modern play in English". The Independent. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
^ Archive webpage by the National Theatre of the NT2000 One Hundred Plays of the Century
^ Hickling, Alfred (October 14, 2002). "Angels in America". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved April 18, 2025. Unity Theatre's brilliant vindication proves that Angels in America was not only the greatest play of the 1980s - it is one of the greatest plays of the last century.
^ "The Great Work Continues: The 25 Best American Plays Since 'Angels in America'". The New York Times. May 31, 2018. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 18, 2025. Tony Kushner's "gay fantasia," fusing the ambition, morality and underdog sympathies of earlier 20th century masters, felt not only like a great American play but like a culmination and reimagining of great American playness. It slammed a door open. That was 1993. Exactly 25 years later, the first Broadway revival of "Angels in America" started us thinking about what has happened to American plays in the meantime. Have they been as great? Is their greatness different from what it was? Is "greatness" even a meaningful category anymore?
^ Lawson, Richard (March 26, 2018). "Review: Angels in America Returns to Broadway in All Its Triumph and Tragedy". Vanity Fair. Retrieved April 18, 2025. One of the great plays of the 20th century has received a lush, uneven, thought-provoking revival.
^ "50 greatest plays of the past 100 years (1913–2013)". EW.com. Retrieved April 18, 2025. In his seven-hour epic, Kushner (husband of EW columnist Mark Harris) grapples with gay identity in the midst of the AIDS crisis and depicts characters both straight and gay, fictional and real (including deeply closeted McCarthyist lawyer Roy Cohn).
^ Marks, Peter (March 25, 2018). "Review | Forget 'important.' 'Angels in America' is brilliantly entertaining". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 18, 2025. This is, to my mind, much more than a nostalgic reexamination of one of the high points of late-20th-century theater;
^ "Did the critics find Angels in America heavenly?". May 5, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2025. It now stands as a canonical classic, probably the great American play of the late 20th century.
^ "How Angels in America Became the Defining Work of American Art of the Past 25 Years". Slate Magazine. June 28, 2016. Retrieved April 18, 2025. Both parts of Angels, Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, put gay men at the center of American politics, history, and mythology at a time when they were marginalized by the culture at large and dying in waves.
^ "Angels in America: The Dream Life of Angels". Out. Retrieved April 18, 2025. London's National Theatre declared it one of the 10 greatest plays of the century. The literary critic Harold Bloom included it in his Western Canon, one of only a handful of 20th-century plays so honored.
^ "Teary Nathan Lane Wins Third Tony Award for Angels in America: 'This Award Is a Lovely Vote of Confidence That I've Been on the Right Path'". Broadway.com. Retrieved April 18, 2025. I'm standing here because Tony wrote one of the greatest plays of the 20th century, and it is still speaking to us as powerfully as ever in the midst of such political insanity.
^ "An AIDS anniversary: 25 years in the arts" Archived June 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. The Seattle Times, June 25, 2006.[1]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[shmoop-1] "Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches Introduction". Shmoop. Retrieved March 15, 2018.

[2] Lahr, John (November 15, 1992). "Tony Kushner and the Making of "Angels in America"". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved April 18, 2025.

[3] "Introduction" in Geis, Deborah R.; Kruger, Steven F. (eds.) (1997). Approaching the Millennium: Essays on Angels in America. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, p. 1, citing John M. Clum, Male Homosexuality in Modern Drama, New York: Columbia University Press, 1994, p. 324.

[4] Lister, David (October 18, 1998). "'Waiting for Godot' voted best modern play in English". The Independent. Retrieved October 16, 2020.

[5] Archive webpage by the National Theatre of the NT2000 One Hundred Plays of the Century

[6] Hickling, Alfred (October 14, 2002). "Angels in America". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved April 18, 2025. Unity Theatre's brilliant vindication proves that Angels in America was not only the greatest play of the 1980s - it is one of the greatest plays of the last century.

[7] "The Great Work Continues: The 25 Best American Plays Since 'Angels in America'". The New York Times. May 31, 2018. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 18, 2025. Tony Kushner's "gay fantasia," fusing the ambition, morality and underdog sympathies of earlier 20th century masters, felt not only like a great American play but like a culmination and reimagining of great American playness. It slammed a door open. That was 1993. Exactly 25 years later, the first Broadway revival of "Angels in America" started us thinking about what has happened to American plays in the meantime. Have they been as great? Is their greatness different from what it was? Is "greatness" even a meaningful category anymore?

[8] Lawson, Richard (March 26, 2018). "Review: Angels in America Returns to Broadway in All Its Triumph and Tragedy". Vanity Fair. Retrieved April 18, 2025. One of the great plays of the 20th century has received a lush, uneven, thought-provoking revival.

[9] "50 greatest plays of the past 100 years (1913–2013)". EW.com. Retrieved April 18, 2025. In his seven-hour epic, Kushner (husband of EW columnist Mark Harris) grapples with gay identity in the midst of the AIDS crisis and depicts characters both straight and gay, fictional and real (including deeply closeted McCarthyist lawyer Roy Cohn).

[10] Marks, Peter (March 25, 2018). "Review | Forget 'important.' 'Angels in America' is brilliantly entertaining". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 18, 2025. This is, to my mind, much more than a nostalgic reexamination of one of the high points of late-20th-century theater;

[11] "Did the critics find Angels in America heavenly?". May 5, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2025. It now stands as a canonical classic, probably the great American play of the late 20th century.

[12] "How Angels in America Became the Defining Work of American Art of the Past 25 Years". Slate Magazine. June 28, 2016. Retrieved April 18, 2025. Both parts of Angels, Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, put gay men at the center of American politics, history, and mythology at a time when they were marginalized by the culture at large and dying in waves.

[13] "Angels in America: The Dream Life of Angels". Out. Retrieved April 18, 2025. London's National Theatre declared it one of the 10 greatest plays of the century. The literary critic Harold Bloom included it in his Western Canon, one of only a handful of 20th-century plays so honored.

[14] "Teary Nathan Lane Wins Third Tony Award for Angels in America: 'This Award Is a Lovely Vote of Confidence That I've Been on the Right Path'". Broadway.com. Retrieved April 18, 2025. I'm standing here because Tony wrote one of the greatest plays of the 20th century, and it is still speaking to us as powerfully as ever in the midst of such political insanity.

[16] "An AIDS anniversary: 25 years in the arts" Archived June 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. The Seattle Times, June 25, 2006.[1]

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