Angels in America: Millenium Approaches

Thursday, December 30

Signature Theatre, 7:30pm performance

The gays were out in force last night at Angels in America Part I: Millenium Approaches.  It was actually nice to see such a hugely diverse crowd (age, race, and gender as well) since today’s Broadway audience is starting to become one big homogenized white, middle-class blob.  I mean no disrespect to Joe the Plumber from Ohio, but Joe doesn’t want to shell out $120 to be challenged or moved.  Joe wants familiar, safe stories that don’t tax brain cells and don’t question status quo.

I present to you Exhibit A - the abrupt closing of Scottsboro Boys and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson on Broadway.  Without judging their artistic merits, these shows pushed the boundaries of traditional musical theatre by challenging audiences intellectually as well as emotionally.  The result?  Both closed within a couple months of opening while Mamma Mia! continues to sellout.  Obviously, America wants its entertainment served up on white bread with double cheese. 

Oddly, the shows we now consider masterpieces of the genre would probably have closed just as quickly as Scottsboro or Bloody if opening today.  Could Sweeney or West Side, shows that do not trade on spectacle or familiarity, but rather on story, score and lyric, make it in today’s fast food musical climate?  It’s a mute point, I guess.  But I’d venture they’d have a tough time raising capital today without the bankability of their composers.

Okay, enough with the ranting, let’s move on to Angels.  I remember seeing the original Broadway production and thinking, “Gee, do people talk like this in real life?   They’re so eloquent and cerebral even when they’re just ranting.”  Of course, I’ve experienced at least a decade’s worth of life since that first viewing.  Hearing the words again, it doesn’t seem so improbable.  It’s still brilliantly eloquent and intelligent, but still feels real and honest.

Trish and I had a twinge of panic seeing that dreaded slip of white paper in the program.  The cast is one of the main reasons I bit the bullet and paid for full price tickets.  It turned out that Christian Borle - one of Trish's fake Broadway boyfriends - was out.  His understudy, Eric Bryant, seemed a bit tentative in his first couple of scenes, but hit his stride by the hallway "collapse" scene.  His chemistry with Quinto also seemed a bit forced at first, but seemed to gel by the middle of the first act.  I believe today was his first time on for the role of Prior (judging from the late house opening 5 minutes prior to curtain), so pretty impressive all things considered.  Fingers crossed we see Borle for Part 2 on Sunday, though it'll be weird seeing a different actor continuing in the role.

Zach Quinto is some nice eye candy but someone needs to throw him a steak.  The man is downright waifish.  It was odd that the character dying from AIDS had more muscle definition and bulk than Quinto.  Regardless, Quinto was a highlight of an extremely strong ensemble.  I was also particularly impressed with Frank Wood's Roy Cohen.  His physicality was appropriately disgusting.  Watching him as Cohen made me feel dirty.  Though many on the chatboards found Kazan's portrayal of Harper disingenuous, I found her more than adequate and at times moving.  Bill Heck's Joe Pitt can meet me in the rambles any night.  His performance was equal turns sympathetic and frustrating (in a good way).  I appreciated Robin Bartlett's harsher reading of Mother Pitt (compared to Meryl Streep on HBO).  Billy Porter sure knows how to play sassy black side-kick and deserves the audience acknowledgement he receives, but I prefer Jeffrey Wright's less flamboyant and emotionally contained (but equally intense) Belize from TV and the original Broadway production. 

I'm looking forward to Part 2 on Sunday.  Happy New Year!

FYI: weenie alert - the audience gets to see both Quinto and Borle's wee-wee's - if you're into that.  ;-)