'Angels in America' comes to Cambridge 30 years after first hitting Broadway
CAMBRIDGE – Thirty years after the Tony Award-winning "Angels in America" hit the Broadway stage, a new production of the Tony Kushner masterpiece is wowing audiences in Cambridge.
While the play is set in the mid-1980s, those working on the production at Central Square Theater say the subject matter couldn't be more timely.
The complex examination of AIDS and homosexuality in America has echoes of the pandemic we just lived through.
Set in New York City, Angels in America is about two different couples struggling with the early onset of AIDS as well as their own sexual and gender identities.
While the company originally planned to stage the play during the 2020-21 season, the COVID delay has made the story's themes resonate even stronger.
Artistic director Lee Mikeska Gardner told WBZ-TV it's sparking big questions from the audience like "What was happening during the Reagan administration? How is that happening now? Am I hearing, am I hearing echoes today? Am I not? What does that look like?"
While the 3.5-hour production can be physically and emotionally exhausting for the actors, actor Zach Fikehodges said it's also exhilarating "because the words and the questions are so rich, it just feels like a really fulfilling, nourishing experience to get to live through those questions every night."
Angels in America runs at Central Square Theater in Cambridge through May 28.
Part two of the play, "Angels in America: Perestroika," will be staged in the fall.