Perestroika (original 1992; édition 1996)

Yesterday morning, after mindlessly scrolling through all of my social media feeds for hundredth time, I felt disgusted with myself and the world but mostly myself. I needed a devotional. Church. (It was Sunday morning.) But nothing religious. I gave that up long ago. I went to my bookshelf and straight to the plays. Angels caught my eye. I hadn't read it since the 90s. My copy of Millennium opened to Act 2, and I just started reading. The house was quiet; only the critters and I were up yet. I read to then end of Act 2, then went back to beginning, read through the end of Part 1 and onto Perestroika. My devotional turned into an all-day revival meeting. Just what my sorry soul needed.

"Nothing's lost forever. In this world, there's a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we've left behind, and dreaming ahead. At least, I think that's so." Perestroika, Act 5, Scene 10 ( )

5

Though together with Millennium Approaches, Angels in America is rather long, the ending makes every word worth reading. Angels in America is a stirring, inspiring statement about living in the age of AIDS. ( )

In Part 2 of Angels in America, our characters have to deal with terrible decisions. Roy becomes very sick and pulls all sorts of strings to get AZT. Joe and Harper separate. Louis is afraid of seeing Prior and develops a relationship with Joe. Belize continues to be the voice of reason for everyone.

The lives of the characters are so filled with fear, anxiety, self-loathing, denial, and more fear. We have seen a little of how tragic and difficult the life of homosexuals were then.
This play was produced by HBO and after reading it, I intend to find it and watch it again. ( )

Woooowwwwww.

Despite its rather long duration for a play, comprising some seven hours acted all out, this is very tightly written. Each little scene, every bit of dialogue, has some reach or development or meaning to it. The characters are passionate and dynamic. All of them matter. All are played by the same little group of actors.

This play goes over a lot, and I'm not really sure I can give the play its proper due with my meager summaries. Politics, gnosticism, love, class, how God has abandoned us to the Republicans and spread plagues and hellfire, and prophecy, and all sorts of fun things.

You really ought to read this, gay or not, whatever you are, I'm not going to smack a label on it. There's something here, as there is in many of the great works, about a common thread of humanity. ( )