It’s been over 25 years since Tony Kushner’s Angels in America opened on Broadway, but the Rep’s season opening production of this two-part epic is confirmation of its enduring potency. It’s set in the 1980s during the apex of the AIDS crisis (and the Reagan administration’s lack of urgency in responding to it), but like most classics, there are far-sighted echoes throughout that resonate today. From anxiety about the environment and the cruelty of personal and political self-interests, to the little triumphs of hopeful persistence in the face of fear and uncertainty, the characters in Kushner’s script navigate individual turmoil between the blurred lines of cold realities and fantastical visions, taking on a heavy load, but never straying from a sharp sense of humor. The subtitle, A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, winks at the play’s overall topics, but gives no hint of its remarkable ability to be as expansive as it is intimate. Under Tony Speciale’s graceful direction and a superb cast, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, stimulates the senses.
