‘Millennium’ Shocks London, Approaches Taper

“Millennium Approaches,” the first half of Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America,” opened on Jan. 23 at London’s Royal National Theatre and British critics are abuzz.

“Something rare, dangerous and harrowing has erupted on the London stage,” wrote Nicholas de Jongh of the Evening Standard. The play “is like a roman candle hurled into a drawing room,” and it “triumphantly vindicates” Royal National Theatre director Richard Eyre’s description of Kushner as “the most important American playwright to emerge since David Mamet.”

“Millennium” is “one of those plays that come along every few years to remind us how important and vital theater can be,” wrote Steve Grant of Time Out.

Although it clocks in at 3 hours, 40 minutes, it was “not a moment too long,” declared Malcolm Rutherford of the Financial Times. “If you want an example of vibrant America, this is it.”

A few Angelenos saw “Millennium” in a 1990 Taper production, but it played only four weeks in the 90-seat Taper Too. The first production of the complete “Angels”--including Part II, “Perestroika”--is expected on the Taper mainstage probably next fall.

Meanwhile, “Millennium” will play in repertory through May in the 250-seat Cottesloe Theatre at the National.

It wasn’t universally liked.

Noting the use of “Perestroika” as the title of Part II, John Gross of the Sunday Telegraph trotted out another Russian word, poshlost --meaning “corny trash, philistinism in all its phases, bogus profundity”--to describe “Millennium.”

Kenneth Hurren of the Mail found the play “woefully discursive and grotesquely overlong.”

Some of the play’s proponents agreed that it’s too long. “By the end, this wonderful play is suffering from burnout,” wrote Kate Kellaway of the Observer. Considering the prospect of the sequel, Benedict Nightingale of the (London) Times wrote that “for all his vigour and pluck, (Kushner) may have astonished us long enough.”

But Michael Billington of the Guardian dismissed the play’s length as relatively unimportant: “You can say (Kushner) chews off more than he can bite,” he wrote, “but I infinitely prefer a play with too many themes to too few. . . . Sprawling and over-written as it may be, it is a play of epic energy that gets American drama not just out of the closet but, thank God, out of the living room as well.”

The play’s explicit language and depiction of homosexual activity left several critics “looking distinctly green about the gills,” wrote Charles Spencer of the Daily Telegraph. Yet “while (the play) is certain to shock people,” he added, “there is no denying (its) theatrical power . . . the play is as exhilarating as it is harrowing.”

CLO CONTRACT: Actors’ Equity has established a new Western Civic Light Opera contract. Long Beach and San Bernardino Civic Light Operas are the only Southland groups to sign on so far. The contract requires the use of at least 15 Equity members per production.

The union is still at loggerheads with California Music Theatre over which contract, if any, the Pasadena company will use. CMT’s next production, “Camelot,” is slated to open Feb. 22, but the announced star, David Birney, won’t be there. He’s doing a syndicated TV series, “Judith Krantz’s Secrets,” instead. His replacement had not been disclosed, as of press time.

OH: “The First Major Los Angeles Engagement” for Stephen Sondheim’s “Company”? That’s how a March 13-27 staging by Silver Lining Productions at Wilshire Ebell Theatre is described in postcards sent to the press. But what about the 1971 production at the Ahmanson, one year after the musical opened in New York?

That was the national touring production, not a “Los Angeles” engagement, explained producer/director David Hock. Other productions within the city of Los Angeles were in 99-seat theaters--hence, not “major.” However, “major” does not mean that Hock is using Actors’ Equity members. His star is pop singer Kenny James.

OOPS: Fresno residents wrote to complain about a reference to the “West Coast premiere” of Larry Gelbart’s “Mastergate” at UC Irvine next June. An amateur group there, the Good Company Players, presented the play last year.