Angels in America: Millennium Approaches Tickets

The great work began the moment “Angels in America” touched down at Broadway’s Neil Simon Theatre. In one of the most magnificent productions of Tony Kushner’s two-part “Gay Fantasia on National Themes,” set at the height of the AIDS crisis, Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, and the ensemble of “Millennium Approaches” and “Perestroika” deliver a gut-wrenching production sure to stick with audiences for a lifetime.

When Prior Walter tells his partner, Louis Ironson, that he has been diagnosed with AIDS, he’s left to fight for his life on his own. Simultaneously, a closeted Mormon named Joe Pitt and his drug-addled wife, Harper, deal with their own demons. As Ron Leibman, who originated the role of Roy — played in this production by Lane — once said: “Everything that happens in life happens in this play.”

What to watch for

Andrew Garfield identifies as heterosexual, which made him question if he was qualified or not to take on the seminal role of Prior Walter.

This production of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work is the most Tony Award-nominated play in history, receiving 11 nominations, including Best Revival of a Play.

This production was originally revived at London’s National Theatre in 2017. The full London company — with the exception of Russell Tovey as Joe — reprised their performances for Broadway.

Tony-winning director Marianne Elliott was on a quest to direct “Angels in America.” When the production rights were available, she “made” the National Theatre “snatch” them and let her direct! “I don’t think that anybody would have given me the job,” she admits. “I’m not the first, most obvious choice to direct that piece. I’m not American, I’m not Mormon, I’m not Jewish, I’m not a man.”

Stagehands are dressed in total black and lit very carefully, so the audience can’t see small black panels they are holding during scene transitions because, explains designer Edward Pierce, transitions can make or break the design, the rhythm, and the heartbeat of the show.