I'm not sure if there's a more American play written in my lifetime than "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches." It is my generations' "Our Town. I've seen it staged a couple of times, the first time included a couple of the original cast members: Steven Spinella as Pryor Walter and Kathleen Chalfant as Hannah Pitt. The scene where Pryor's dream is hijacked by Harper's drug induced delusion remains crisp in my memory to this day.
Most recently, I saw both parts of Angels produced at Round House Theatre in 2016 with an all star cast of local talent. It was enjoyable, thoroughly competent in its presentation with only slightly uneven performances...I was no fan of the actor who portrayed Pryor, but then when Spinella sets the bar... This production definitely raised the bar on the entire production. Arena Stage's Mead Center for American Theatre is home to a series of theater spaces that largest being the Fichandler Stage. It is a perfect square designed for theatre in the round productions only.
I don't know if my description of the staging will do it justice, but I have to set the review with it. At first glance the main area appears to be a bear white circle with a smaller circle illuminated from below in the center. I assume the center portion rotates or lowers and raises OR both. The area over the stage supports a single humongous piece of translucent plastic with a large hole torn in the center and four smaller holes at the cardinal points. All along the edges of the stage and over the heads of the audience are a variety of chandeliers all covered in the same plastic. Plastic also lines the outer walls of the theatre along the aisles that encircle the rows of seats behind the top row. The white surface appears to be made of plaster or perhaps play-doh. Over the sound system and apparently originating from diverse points around the theatre the names of men and women are being read without any obvious point. I came to realize that these are people who died from AIDS that were known to the DMV theatre community, etc. Quietly, the Angel enters with a wooden rake in the style of the Japanese Buddhist Priest's. Slowly, she walks out to the center and along the edge of the inner circle sets the down and beings to drag it over the surface, which now I can see is obviously sand. She continues in an ever expanding revolution from the center out until the entire stage resemble a pristine vinyl record. From this point on sand becomes a new member of the cast. It conceals props, it is seize by the fistful, kicked by feet, thrown like a snowball, and time and again from the holes in the plastic streams of sand gently pour down upon the setting, upon the actors like sand in an hour glass. It is thrilling to chilling and profoundly effective a metaphor in a play that is in some ways one giant metaphor.
Arena Stage pulled out all the stops in securing Hungarian Director Janos Szasz to shepherd this production. And while there were a couple of notable and highly sought after local members of the cast, Szasz' reputation surely enticed actors from across the country to audition. Hometown favorites Ed Gero and Susan Rome took on the roles of Roy Cohn/Pryor Walter II and Hannah Pitt/the Rabbi//Henry/Ethel Rosenberg. Ed is never off. His performance of Roy Cohn was powerful and intense; however, as the flowery great x10 grandfather of the contemporary Pryor, he really gave something unexpected and delightful. Susan is a chameleon and moved between her characters and across genders with ease. I loved her Ethel Rosenberg; it's a pity Arena isn't doing both parts as the character has a larger presence in the second half of the duo. I also really John Austin's hapless/conflicted/gay/Republican/law clerk/Joe Pitt the best. And if I had any doubt as to his talent, John's take on Pryor I erased it. Another actor with a local resume, I have never seen him perform before.
Of the out of town actors Deborah Ann Woll's Harper Pitt, Joe's depressed, delusional, pill popping wife was compelling and fresh. The fact that she and Austin had some of the best moments in the production leads me to wonder why they didn't have a single decent press photo... While Woll came to use from southern California, the deepest non-DMV resume belongs to Nick Westrate who had the role of Pryor. A tad bit older than my vision of the character, he was none-the-less consumed by the role bringing great energy and empathy. The rest of the cast was likewise engaging.
My only complaint really goes to the playwright Tony Kushner. Why do you license companies to produce part one and not part two? The first part ends and you are left hanging with questions that can only be answered by "Angels in America: Perestroika". And I suppose closer to the source, Molly Smith, why only one?
I'm guessing, based on the approximately 85% capacity audience that you can sill get tickets. It's worth it, especially if you are a fan of the play.
Billie Krishawn as The Angel in the amazing opening pre-scene.
Susan Rome as the Rabbi delivering the Eulogy at Sarah Ironson's funeral while her grandson, Louis (Michael Kevin Darnall-R) and his lover Pryor Walter (Nick Westrate - L) look on.
Joe Pitt (John Austin) and Harper Pitt (Deborah Ann Woll) after she's burnt his dinner to a crisp and has confronted him on his homosexuality. Isn't this a lousy photo? And it's the only one with these amazing actors in it.
I feel like you deserve to at least see what they look like.
Pryor in the hospital with his friend and ICU Nurse, Belize (Justin Weaks)
Justin Weaks in the role of Mr. Lies, Harper Pitt's fantasy travel agent. She pops the pills and Mr. Lies arranges the trip. The standout aspect of Justin's performance was his deliberate physicality. It held the precision and strength of an acrobat in a slow motion roll that was in a way hypnotic.
Susan Rome again as Roy Cohn's doctor Henry after Cohn has explained to him why 1) he has sex with other men, BUT he is NOT a homosexual, and in spite of of her prognosis, he does NOT have AIDS, he has Liver Cancer. Henry retorts, "Roy, I don't care what you call yourself and I don't care what you call what you have. But Roy, you are a very sick man."
Having abandoned his lover, Pryor Walter, and having failed to justify his actions with the Rabbi, with Belize, and eventually with himself he is caught in a moment of "snow fall" desperate for absolution. One example of how the use of the sand was genius.
In the hospital alone and afraid of dying, The Angel visits Pryor Walter.
