Millennium Approaches 1.2

Summary

Joseph Pitt sits waiting in Roy Cohn's office while Roy conducts business with several people through his phone system. Roy is loud and obscene until Joe asks him to "please not use the Lord's name in vain" (20). When Roy asks what religion he is, Joe tells him that he is Mormon. Roy then suddenly offers Joe a job in the Justice Department in Washington, DC. Joe says that "it's incredibly exciting" but that he must talk to his wife before accepting the job (22).

Notes

• Cats (18) - a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1978 and based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot.

• 42nd Street (18) - a Broadway musical. It premiered in New York City in 1980 and is considered one of the most successful productions in the history of Broadway theater.

• La Cage (18) - La Cage aux Folles is a French play that became Broadway's first "homosexual" musical in 1983.

• Mormon (21) - the name given to members of the Latter Day Saint movement.

• Ed Meese (21) - the seventy-fifth Attorney General of the United States from 1985 to 1988.

Study Questions

1. What is Roy Cohn's favorite Broadway musical? What does this suggest about the character?
2. What is Roy's profession?
3. What job does Roy offer to Joe and what would it require Joe to do?
4. While he is conducting business, what does Roy keep insisting Joe do?
5. Why does Joe tell Roy that he has to "think about" his job offer?
6. Who is the Attorney General at the time of the play?

Works Cited

Kushner, Tony. Angels in America. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1995.