Angels in America Announces Fourth Off-Broadway Extension; Jonathan Hadary to Join Cast

By Adam Hetrick
and Kenneth Jones
22 Feb 2011

Jonathan Hadary
Jonathan Hadary

The Off-Broadway revival of Tony Kushner's Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, the historic play documenting the American AIDS crisis in the mid 1980's, has extended for a fourth time. The Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning work will spread its wings through April 24.

The Signature Theatre Company production, under the direction of Michael Greif, began previews Sept. 14, 2010, and opened to critical approval Oct. 28. The strong box office for the almost-seven-hour work (Millennium Approaches and Perestroika) has prompted four extensions past the original closing date of Dec. 19, 2010. The Signature states that the latest four-week extension to April 24 will be the last for the first Off-Broadway revival of the epic work.

It has also been announced that Tony nominee Jonathan Hadary (Gypsy, As Is, Torch Song Trilogy) will succeed Tony Award winner Frank Wood (Side Man, August: Osage County) as Roy Cohn beginning March 29.

The cast also features Adam Driver as Louis Ironson, Sofia Jean Gomez as The Angel, Bill Heck as Joe Pitt, Keira Keeley as Harper Pitt, Lynne McCollough as Hannah Pitt, Billy Porter as Belize and Michael Urie as Prior Walter.

Here's how Signature characterizes the Pulitzer Prize-winning work: "Set in late 1985 and early 1986, as the first wave of the AIDS epidemic in America is escalating and Ronald Reagan has been elected to a second term in the White House, this Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play's two parts, Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, bring together a young gay man with AIDS and his frightened, unfaithful lover; a closeted Mormon lawyer and his valium-addicted wife; the infamous New York lawyer Roy Cohn; an African-American male nurse; a Mormon housewife from Utah; and a steel-winged, prophecy-bearing angel; as well as the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, an ancient rabbi, the world's oldest living Bolshevik and a Reagan administration functionary, among many others — all played by a company of eight actors. The lives of these disparate characters intersect, intertwine, collide and are blown apart during a time of heartbreak, reaction and transformation. Ranging from earth to heaven, from the political to the intimate to the visionary and supernatural, Angels in America is an epic exploration of love, justice, identity and theology, of the difficulty, terror and necessity of change."

Scenic design is by Mark Wendland, costume design by Clint Ramos, lighting design by Ben Stanton, sound design by Ken Travis, projection design by Wendall K. Harrington, music by Michael Friedman and Chris Miller, hair and wig design by Charles Lapointe, dialect coaching by Deborah Hecht, fight direction by Rick Sordelet, aerial design by Paul Rubin, make-up by Cookie Jordan and additional costumes by Jeff Mahshie. Production stage manager is Monica A. Cuoco. Stage manager is Joshua Pilote.

Signature Theatre Company's 20th Anniversary season celebrates Tony Kushner.

For the full performance calendar, to purchase tickets or for more information, visit signaturetheatre.org/Angels or call (212) 244-PLAY (7529). Performances take place at the Peter Norton Space, located at 555 West 42nd Street.