The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures

by Tony Kushner

"Offers the chance to banquet on rich and delectable passions and ideas, washed down with lashings of wit. . . . Its big argumentative poetry screams out that history matters."—The Nation

"A brainy, brawny, thematically expansive work, stuffed with challenging sociopolitical ideas and dialectical fireworks. . . . Kushner's social engagement and his intellectualism are balanced, as always, by his penetrating humanism."—Hollywood Reporter

Gus Marcantonio, a retired longshoreman, summons his adult children home to the family's Brooklyn brownstone to discuss his recent decision to commit suicide. With his trademark mix of soaring intellect, searing emotion, and biting wit, legendary playwright Tony Kushner unfurls an epic tale of revolution, radicalism, family, love, sex, politics, real estate, unions and debts both unpaid and unpayable. With sweeping themes as hefty as its title, "IHo" (as it has been nicknamed) explores the dense and vexing issues that stem from the betrayal of a failed ideology and the challenges of family connectedness. This cerebral mammoth of a play asks what is left when the long-held belief systems that construct and inform one's identity prove to be empty.

An extraordinary play from the renowned author of Angels in America.

Tony Kushner is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, an Olivier Award, an Emmy Award, two Oscar nominations, and the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, among other honors. In 2012, he was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, Queer, LGBT, Fiction, Contemporary

295 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2023

About the author

Tony Kushner is an award-winning American playwright most famous for his play Angels in America, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He is also co-author, along with Eric Roth, of the screenplay of the 2005 film Munich, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and earned Kushner (along with Roth) an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was Kushner's follow-up play to Angels in America, first presented in 2009 (the premiere was pushed back a week, as he was only finishing writing it while tech rehearsals were being conducted - as he reveals in a candid afterword). The playwright has been tinkering with it for the last 14 years, through four subsequent major productions; and it is finally being published now for the first time.

Like his previous work, it is chockablock with esoteric ideas, soaring arias of intellectual one-upmanship, and heavy scenes of family sturm-und-drang. But like that previous lauded Pulitzer-winner - it is also weighted down with clunky scenes that DON'T work, characters that often don't ring true to life (every cast member spouts at least one obscure reference to something I've never heard of - even the 20-something hustler is presented as a Yale dropout in order to justify him punching above his weight intellectually - and when did 72 year old longshoremen start spending their leisure hours translating Horace from the Latin?), and a nearly four-hour running time. As I've always said of AIA - it's one half of a masterpiece.

Anyone wanting additional info can find it in the plethora of reviews below, all of which point out both its flaws and potential. I'll have to give it at least another read-through before I can even begin to unravel its complexities - but give me a play that is overly ambitious to one that has nothing to say any day.

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/th...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/201...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/201...
https://variety.com/2011/legit/review...#!
https://www.vulture.com/2011/05/theat...
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/...
https://variety.com/2009/legit/review...
https://www.sfgate.com/performance/ar...

[Chas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of genius, and a sort of modern Cherry Orchard, by way of Arthur Miller. At times incredibly moving but it also, unfortunately, feels like there may be a few extra characters hanging around.

[P J M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tony babe what’s my VPN. What’s my SSN. Since you grew me in a vat, and saw it all coming, and you’ve got a little mouth on you to brag about it all—out with it. I need answers, Tony. Or should I call you Dad?

Anyways call me on either of my phones. I’ll pick you up and meet you at Owamni. And then you walk me to the Guthrie, so I can see where it all happened, and you can finally explain it all. Every one of your little terrorisms.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5ish stars, actually. Too long and still rough, but when it's good it's really good.

[Will Schmitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5
This is the longest single play I’ve ever read: 251 pages! That being said, I enjoyed it a lot! Lots of complexity and layers to it with each character being very rich. A bizarre ass family dynamic, that’s for sure! This play lives on so many levels and I loved reading a show that comments so much on capitalism, socialism, and communism. I mean the title itself is cool af. Definitely recommend the read! I love how Tony Kushner’s worlds are so elaborate and detailed and so him!

[Nelson Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

*finally* finished this one. Tbh it was pretty good. I honestly picked it up bc the title piqued my interest but it ended up be a thoughtful staging of religion, labor, and politics, too. I can’t yet affirm that the it delivers the same goods the title promises… but it defo delivers something that’s worth thinking about.

[leisol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a spiritual experience reading this, as in - it both changed and disappointed me.

I found this by happenstance and read it in a single day. If I had to create a list of media that have shaped me as a person, "Angels in America" would be at the top, so I admittedly began with high expectations. For the most part, "The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide" did meet and exceed these expectations! It is hilarious and depressing and heartwarming in equal measure. Despite his worry that it would not be readable, I got something out of my reading experience that I don't believe I would get out of watching the stage play. I want to read it again, but I also don't feel that I can take on this contemplation of suicide again so soon. This is the type of material that you simply have to... sit with, for awhile.

But now that I have begun to sit with it, I'm realizing that there are areas where Kushner has disappointed me. Some of the passages were confusing, to say the least. The characters had similar tones and broke into unnecessary monologues too often. I have often praised "Angels in America" for its length, but I feel Kushner took the success in its length as an encouragement to skip the cutting part of the editing process. This work should have been pared down and refined. I believe that would have given the project more power.

I also was disappointed in his treatment of the lesbians in this play! Why did both Empty and Maeve have to fuck men? Why did their lives have to revolve back around men and sex with them? I adore them both as characters, and I had almost accepted Empty's relationship with Adam in all its complexity when it was revealed that Maeve had slept with V. Why? I am simply exhausted. Their arcs were interesting, Maeve and V's relationship was complex and messy and I do want to spend time dissecting it, and the sex did add tension - but at what cost? Not to bring up "Angels in America" yet again, but I think that the key difference between Lewis' cheating and Empty's cheating is that Lewis cheated with another man. It did not raise the question of whether or not he was sexually attracted to men. For two lesbians in the same play, when lesbians' sexuality is constantly thrown into question in the real world, to cheat on each other with men? Why?

After being so critical of the work, I should reiterate that I do love this play. The ending was perfect. The tensions in the family were beautifully crafted. It was truly horrifying watching the conflict unfold. Each character is marvelous and complicated - they reflect each other. They create each other. They are killing each other.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gosh, I love me some Tony Kushner. I lived to see ANGELS IN AMERICA with its original cast. I directed his adaptation of THE ILLUSION. I am a huge fan of BRIGHT ROOM CALLED DAY. We even hosted him here at my university and I was able to interview him for 90 minutes on stage, which I loved. He's brilliant. I teach his essays. I read his works. I'm a super fan.

And that's why THE INTELLIGENT HOMOSEXUAL'S GUIDE TO CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM WITH A KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES is so disappointing. He admits to writing it haphazardly and at the last minute, and he also suggests maybe it's a play to be read more than it is one to be staged. Sure. And he has a very detailed analysis of how best to read the play--unbelievably complicated. But, having worked through this massive epic play, it's just unnecessarily esoteric. Sure, it's full of big ideas and it's smart; how could it not be? Kushner is brilliant. But we just don't give a rip about the characters, who spout elevated philosophy instead of just ... live. In fact, it's challenging to believe that these characters named Empty, V, Pill... are people rather than just objets who argue with one another in ways that are, indeed, charged, but in service of what? I can't imagine seeing this work staged in a way that would either involve the audience or persuade them to care.

I consider myself somewhat bright, but after muddling through this work, I feel like an idiot--yes, Kushner is way smarter than me, but a play must involve its reader or audience in some sort of emotional conflict, not conflict rooted in theory and discourse. This play wore me out.

[Fio Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 5-star review of this play is not to say that it is for everyone, nor that it is easy. As Kushner explains in the production notes, this play is incredibly hard to depict in writing because it relies on erratic overlap of dialogue as a whole room of people compete for attention, from both other players in the scene and also the audience. Audiences of this show are meant to feel overwhelmed with choice, unable to decide who to listen to at any given moment. Having everyone in front of you, able to be digested at your own pace, is a vert different experience. That being said, once you can enter the trance that is reading multiple conversations at once, this is a fantastic read. It is a long show (running 3 hours and 45 minutes on stage), but I wish that didn't turn people away as much as it seems to. I would particularly recommend this play to anyone interested in pursuing theatre, whether as actors, directors, or writers. The production notes at the end of the book were perhaps my favorite thing to read. This play truly was hard-wrought and miserable to produce, but the result is something truly timeless.

[Mitchel · Rating 4 out of 5]

And you thought "Angels in America" was a difficult play.

Kushner's four act, 230-page take on the American family drama may be, ironically, the least produced play of his career. (As of this writing, it hasn't received a major American production since its Guthrie world premiere and subsequent Off-Broadway production in 2011.) And that's a shame, because while the play can be grandiloquent, it has real things to say about capitalism, politics, love, and the vanishing legacy of American labor activism.

Kushner's Act II features a combustible domestic fight scene - kind of like "August: Osage County" if everyone in the family had a subscription to New Left Review - that barely coheres on the page. One can only imagine that it would take at least a week in rehearsals to nail down.

As issues surrounding economic justice have returned to the centerstage of American political life post 2016, here's hoping that more theater companies will have the courage to produce this maddening but totally singular piece of dramatic literature.

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I waited ten years to be able to read this play, and I now understand why I only remember flashes of it. The constant cacophony of dialogue - seeing it written out - explains why I've been so persistently waiting to read this in print, and also why I didn't come away with a deep grasp of what I had just seen. I know a lot more about the world since I saw the play in 2014 but there were still many references I had to look up while reading it. This play is chock full of incredible amounts of information and history, maybe even more than an average Tony Kushner play.

Also when Clio came down the stairs with that giant painting it completely broke the audience I was a part of. Just amazing raucous laughter. Staging such a small moment perfectly is one of the most beautiful things about the theater.

[Joshua Quiñones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I’m not an intelligent homosexual; I found this play difficult to parse through due to its emphasizing intellectual discourse (mainly focused on the tenants and nuances of Marxism) over character development and investment. Within the Marxist discourse, I felt the play needed a stronger capitalist voice in order to offer a source of conflict—the result is that there is a lot of preaching that falls short due to the fact that the central family has accumulated generational wealth due to their labor (and also whiteness) symbolized by their brownstone in Brooklyn.

A devout fan of Kushner’s work (Angels and Homebody/Kabul being two of my favorite plays), I think I’ll need to let this play stew for a bit before I come back to see what else it has to offer. As always, Kushner’s writing is sharp and weighted with meaning, so there is something here.

[Romeo Channer · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this play is certainly too long and hard to read (by Kushner’s own admission), it is perfect to me. Yes there are flaws but I truly don’t care I loved every second of reading this. The characters (even the ones who could probably be edited out) are full of complex life and pain and conviction, and the family dynamics are unmatched in their dramatic effectiveness. Empty and Gus’ relationship absolutely kills me. The discussions of politics and theology are delicious and thorough and poetic, which is no surprise given the author. I haven’t quite wrapped my head around the final scene, which is a how I want to feel at the end of any play. I’d kill to play Eli. This is one I will undoubtedly reread and study and research and chew on for years to come. Tony Kushner is the absolute best.

[Robby Fahrenholtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a reader rather than a watcher, the overlapping dialogue in this can be a bit clunky to get into, but that's my only complaint. Once you find the rhythm, it runs at a breakneck pace through decades of overlapping familial and sociopolitical drama and leaves you guessing which loyalties will withstand and which will be broken right in front of you (or maybe you'll just learn how broken they already were)

[Lukia · Rating 3 out of 5]

so dense a play i actually felt it necessary to log it on goodreads. i feel that a lot of the reason this doesn’t get put on is the notation of the overlapping dialogue—it’s really hard to get the shape of it while not experiencing the interruptions in time.

but i don’t think anyone writes as lucidly about selfishness as kushner—all his writing is secretly about that. there’s something ambitious here and i’m curious if he achieves it.

[Benjamin Kersey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a marvellous read. I’m between 4 and 5 stars for this, but for now I’m leaving it at a 4. Reading about suicide is difficult for me right now, a sensitive topic in my theatre consumption, but no one does it like Kushner. I’m very happy to have read this and I hope one day I can see it performed.

I don’t know what’s up with Goodreads data on this, but the book is actually 301p, and doesn’t contain a single illustration.

[Mandee · Rating 5 out of 5]

maybe closer to a 4.5? but man this is so good. it's dense and challenging (both in subject matter and formatting) but ultimately rewarding to read. i wish we'd spent a little more time with eli, pill, and paul and a little less time talking about labor organizers but the payoff for all that talk is worth it in the end.

the day my friend's amazon order for this from 2011 finally shipped felt like a national holiday. a 12 year wait was worth it!

[Kev Berry · Rating 4 out of 5]

love him to DEATH but after a years-long delay in releasing it because he couldn’t get the formatting right i can confidently say that tony kushner has formatted this play for publishing like a fucking psychopath in a way that makes it nearly impossible to read

[Blane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though not nearly as transcendent as 'Angels In America', Kushner's latest is still better than just about any other contemporary American drama. A dysfunctional, yet idealistic communist/socialist family navigating the miasma of America's capitalistic system at the dawn of the 21st century? I'm in!

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

CHAOS

[Logan Crews]

need some time to process this one….painful read with no redeemable characters but not in a bad way

[Ryan Levi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me a minute to get into this and it can be tough to read at times because of overlapping dialogue, but once it gets rolling, she ROLLS.

[Veer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy instant fav

[Harry McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

The thing I endlessly admire about Kushner is the density of his work. Impossible, frustrating, brilliant, occasionally jaw-droppingly-spectacular.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tony Kushner finishing this play in 2 months…..insanely impressive

[c · Rating 4 out of 5]

coming from a stable family this was a wild ride

[rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would love love love to see this on stage because I feel like the nuances to this wildly messed up family dynamic could be portrayed so vividly and beautifully. Most exciting might be the deviations from parts I might expect to be played as anger. And for Clio? I want to see those one or two moments of anger. BOUGHT FOR ME BY COLIN I LOVE HIM!