Angels in America

Through the first act, I was confused as to what was going on until about the fourth scene, realizing that the play was introducing the major characters. I didn't enjoy reading this play. That said, I think I would enjoy SEEING this play, especially if the production is tight. There's a lot going on in the stage directions as well as the dialogue. It's very fast paced, very in-your-face and very unapologetic in concerns to the breaking AIDS awareness in the 1980s. I began to appreciate, in the second act, the amount of conflict Joe was experiencing with his sexuality as it ran against the grain of his religious upbringing. The play feels like it is more focused on Joe and Prior as our emotionally turbulent characters, as everyone else floats in and out of view, especially Joe's wife. I'm a little disappointed that there isn't a local opportunity to see this play, since reading all the split scenes boggled my mind and confused me to the point where I had to reread the scene three times before I actually grasped what was actually happening in the plot.