"Those of us leaving the theater, blinking in the sun (it was a matinee), knew that what we'd just seen was a great work, almost a miracle in and of itself, when you consider how mediocre most theater is these days. 'Angels in America' was no recollection, though. It spoke to us directly out of what we were living through at that very moment: the friends and lovers lost in their youth to a hideous disease, a government that congratulated itself for its righteousness in turning its back on them, and more -- junk bonds, the Iran-Contra scandal, the feeling that America would never shed its uglier habits because it no longer especially cared to"
via Salon.com

When I saw the original play, still in previews, it blew my mind. It's 4 hours felt like 15 minutes. I saw it again, when Part II opened, this time back to back.
Kushner had created magic. We all suspended our believes and just got sucked in that world.
And then, when he spit us out of the theater, we realized we were still in, it was OUR WORLD... He made us all, gay and straight, see it, from that point on, as it was. Dream sequences and all.