ANGELS IN AMERICA is back on Broadway

"Angels in America, a Gay Fantasia on National Themes," Tony Kushner's epic play about the politics of the AIDS crisis during the 1980s is back on Broadway. The original production was in 1993 when "Millennium Approaches," the first part of this two-play cycle opened at the Walter Kerr Theater in May.  It was joined by the second part "Perestroika" in November, when both works were presented in repertory. The current production, starring Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane first played at the National Theatre of Great Britain, and was directed by Marianne Elliott, the Olivier and Tony Award winner for "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time." Minus a few cast changes, the production has come intact from across the pond with the principal actors and many of its supporting players; but more importantly with a theatrical power that makes this revival one of the outstanding Broadway productions of all time.

There is Tony Award gold right now on the stage of the Neil Simon Theater. Andrew Garfield is a revelation as Prior Walter, the AIDS victim who becomes a kind of seer, prophet once stricken with the disease and after being visited by an angel. His performance is a sheer delight of power, pathos, and dignity. Nathan Lane, who has been very busy lately on the Broadway and BAM stages, adds to his remarkable roster of roles playing the monstrous Roy Cohn, whose political clout cannot save him when he contracts Kaposi's sarcoma after a lifetime of closeted gay encounters all over the world. Whereas Prior's imaginary visitation by an angel leads him to become an advocate for the disease, Cohn is visited by the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, the accused Cold-War spy whom he prosecuted. Both encounters hold within them interesting resolutions.

There are amazing performances by featured actors who play many parts. Lee Pace as a closeted Mormon and Roy Cohn protegee is memorable, as well as James McArdle, the Scottish actor who plays Prior's boyfriend Louis: a New York Jew filled with liberal opinions who often serves as the mouthpiece of the author. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, best known in the UK for the series Utopia, steals the show as Belize, the drag-queen nurse who comes into contact with all the characters, and whose confrontations with Lane's Cohn are the most memorable for their wit, as well as for their tenderness.

It is not often that a modern masterpiece gets revived on Broadway, and with such an incredible cast. The commercial theater, unfortunately, is not always the place where you will find intelligence and great ideas. The way to see the work is to invest eight hours and see both parts. The play will challenge you in so many ways. But ask yourself, when was the last time you attended something on Broadway that made you think? Don't pass up this rare chance to see first-rate theater with an incredible cast.