(photos by Michael Brosilow)
There
are two attributes of playwright Tony Kushner’s
seminal work, Angels in America, that
absolutely demand equal attention: the epic and the intimate. A
pseudo-Brechtian approach to the gay experience of nineteen eighties New York
City, Angels in America: Millennium
Approaches and Perestroika tackle
the plague-sized AIDS epidemic, Mormonism, and politics with voluminous
thematic devise and luscious poetry of the mouth and eyes. Yet, just as crucial
are the condensed, touching, and textured relationships. That’s the majesty of Kushner’s opus –
the marriage of the epic and real, as AIDS itself, was, and is, both
horrifically epic and all too real.
Director
Charles Newell’s new production of
both parts of Angels in America,
presented in repertory at Court Theatre, intermittently grabs hold of the play’s central dichotomy to thrilling effect, but
its ability to do so is greatly stunted by indecisive staging and a far too
fussy and polished environment. Still, there is much to admire about this new
revival, which is acted capably by all, and transcendently by some.
In producing a play like Angels
in America, this theatre’s home-Court advantage
is its relative coziness. Angels in
America is a conceptually grandiose play, having even been adapted into an
opera. But a large portion of that size and scope comes from the fury of a
private argument, alone in a room with another person. On Broadway, the private
must be achieved through design choices and elaborate architectural
adjustments. But at Court, a tiny trust tucked away in Hyde Park, privacy is
streaming through its blood.
Mystifyingly, Court fights against their compactness with aggressive,
ice-cold scenic design. The set of Angels
(John Culbert), physically the same in both parts of the marathon with only
a few subtle expansions, presents a number of unnecessary hurdles for the
actors and for the audience.
Centered around a mid-stage bed, which looks as concrete and fashionably
geometric as an IKEA, the upstage is a grid of metallic squares. Those squares
are utilized in plethora of ways, often giving no acknowledgment their spatial
separation. But more than a few times, a character occupies one square as their
scene partner occupies another, creating a tête
á tête of power while whittling away at tension
and pressure. A smart idea, in theory, but it drenches those scenes in
intellect, drowning their emotional prowess.
Although the
scenic design is a significant misstep, breathtaking rain and snow effects are magical
and impressive, and Keith Parham’s sizzling lighting design continues Court’s Harlequin
romance with the oversized light bulb. But this Angels in America belongs to its actors who mostly rise to Kushner’s
challenge.
As
Prior Walter, a gay man infected with AIDS who is left early on in the play by
his boyfriend, Louis, Rob Lindley is most effective in his moments of humor.
Lindley can rattle off a sassy quip with the best of ‘em,
but he leaves much to be desired in more dramatic areas. He colors serious
scenes with a consistent vocal frailty that undermines Prior’s
unflappable spirit.
An unsung hero of Court’s
Angels in America is its Louis, a
refreshingly generous Eddie Bennett. There is little doubt in my mind that
Larry Yando as Roy Cohn is giving the performance of a lifetime, transforming
into a being simultaneously corrupt, diseased, and handsomely alluring; however
it is very much his performance.
Yando thrives in Cohn’s personal moments of
introspect - his monologues and his physical distresses – but he lags somewhat in his exchanges with
other characters. The tight, burning intimacy that Angels in America desperately craves for resides in those glorious
sections.
After several hours of viewing, a trend revealed itself to
me,
not unlike
Prior and his holy book. All the scenes of untamable heat and heart involved
Bennett, even when he was not the sole focus. How very telling! Allowing the
focus to fall on a person other than yourself is a more nuanced skill than
greedily harnessing the limelight, and in a play with an almost overwhelming
number of focuses, it’s an integral skill.
A collection of parts - Hannah Pitt, the Oldest Living Bolshevik,
Ethel Rosenberg, and several more - is played with fantastical transformation
by Hollis Resnik. Resnik’s first appearance as
the executed Ethel Rosenberg - poised, steady, and with a knowing grin – is, perhaps, the most heart-pumping moment
of Perestroika, which, at Court, is
the better of the two plays.
As Harper and Joe Pitt, a couple dealing with a husband’s homosexuality amidst devoted Mormonism and
a wife’s drug addiction, Heidi
Kettenring and Geoff Packard have a surprisingly relatable normalcy about them.
Packard, in particular, is a very kind Joe, and a man that you instantly want
the best possible future for. Kettenring, while occasionally falling into an
elongated drone, is, too, a Harper you want to hug.
Mary Beth Fisher’s Angel is very, very relaxed,
which is the river’s mouth of my confusion
towards this production. Why would a married couple’s argument tonally harken back to K2, while The Angel is straight out of Proof? Newell has staged her intrusion
into Prior’s apartment in two ways
throughout the marathon. One employs a slow, ritualistic exercise of attaching
the flight cables to the actress, which appears nothing other than cheap and
awkward. More effectively, he has the lights black out, and when they re-illuminate,
she is hovering above the bed. Regardless, Fisher’s
voice does not convey the authority of The Angel and her physicality is living
room casual.
Despite
its shortcomings, Court’s production of Angels in America has left a reflective, lingering aftertaste on my theatregoing
palate. I took in Perestroika a
whole week before I saw Millennium
Approaches. Yes, out of order and a week apart. But the poignancy of the
production and of the play itself continues to strike me. That is a testament
to the enduring strength and unrestrained power of Kushner’s
text, and to the expressiveness of this ensemble. Opportunities to experience capable
actors performing one of the true stage masterpieces of late twentieth century
are rare, and this production is one of those opportunities.-Johnny Oleksinski
'Angels in America: Millennium Approaches & Perestroika' by Tony Kushner runs through June 3 at Court Theatre.
