Millennium Approaches: 4.5 Stars. This play is so vast and beautiful yet ugly and gritty. It elates and disgusts--terrifies and intrigues. It poses questions that many of us ask and that many of us are too afraid to ask. It is the most realistic fantasy of life in play form that I have ever read and will always have a special place in my heart.

Perestroika: 5 Stars. Just wow. After having to read Millennium Approaches for a class, I decided to read Perestroika out of curiosity; but I never imagined it could be so...vast, so absolutely beautiful. The progression of the characters both in Perestroika alone and in the work as a whole is just riveting. No character is static, which kept my mind turning, trying to come to terms with each of them. I love the reality of their emotions. The reality of anger, of fear, of abandonment, of insane distancing. It all meshes together so well in a shower of emotions and ideologies and paradigms. Honestly, it's just hard to describe how much I enjoyed this play. Even the use of sex as a metaphor is handled so tactfully and candidly that it didn't turn me away from the play but really emphasized the tones and themes Kushner tried to present. The strongest part, however, was definitely the ending. The hope that just poured out of that last scene brought tears to my eyes, because it wasn't some fantasy hope filled with rainbows and unicorns, it was the hope of someone who knows that life sucks sometimes and that crap hits the fan unexpectedly sometimes, but that despite it all we can still keep moving forward. That sentiment is the most important thing I will take away from the entirety of Angels in America. ( )

This is a beautiful depiction of some parts of the gay experience in America, and I liked it. There were moments when the drama really struck a chord with me because of my knowledge of gay history in the twentieth century. ( )

The only reason I didn’t completely like this as an audio is because I loath listening to a dramatization. Although, simply reading this play probably could not do it justice. ( )

"It isn't easy. It doesn't count if it's easy. It's the hardest thing, forgiveness. Maybe that's where love and justice finally meet."

These words, spoken by Belize, the moral center of the play, define what the play is about. Forgiveness, of others who have wronged us, and of ourselves when we have wronged others, is one of the most difficult things for humans to do. Husbands and wives, mothers and sons, gods and humans, lovers, friends, political adversaries, every relationship in this play requires forgiveness.

I didn't particularly like this play, until that line was spoken by Belize in the final act. And then it all made sense, and I realized it might be one of the greatest plays of the 20th century. ( )

A rich, rending look at faith, doubt, and the AIDS crisis in America. ( )