Tom Story and Jon Hudson Odom (Danisha Crosby)
It takes serious ambition for two theaters to partner on a revival of one of the seminal works of modern theater; one that stretches two plays, eight acts, and an epilogue over nearly seven hours. Fortunately, Round House Theatre and Olney Theatre Center’s joint production of Angels in America, which marks the play’s 25th anniversary, matches that scope.
Millennium Approaches is the first part of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, which debuted in San Francisco in 1991. It tackles the AIDS crisis in the mid 1980s head-on with frankness, gravity, allegory, and even black comedy. This production doesn’t let the play’s numerous amusing moments get lost among its heavier themes.
At the center of the drama: a gay couple Prior (a heartbreaking Tom Story) and Louis (Jonathan Bock, bringing nuance to a role that isn’t always sympathetic). Prior is staring down the first early symptoms of AIDS, and his partner is already unable to cope, even before things get dire.
Also playing heavily into Millennium Approaches are two contrasting closeted figures: corrupt lawyer—and real historical figure — Roy Cohn (Mitchell Hebert, a seductive villain) who tries to essentially will his disease into submission; and Joe (Thomas Keegan), a struggling Mormon law clerk whose denial and indiscretions have wreaked havoc on the shattered mind of his troubled wife (Kimberly Gilbert).
As is traditional for productions of Angels, performers weave in and out of multiple roles, sometimes swapping sexes in the process. A symbolic move that looks critically at gender, the technique also displays this cast’s versatility. Gilbert is equally at home playing a schizophrenic housewife and a young, ambitious male political operative. Dawn Ursula morphs from concerned nurse to chipper real estate agent to disturbed homeless man with finesse. One quibble: Sarah Marshall’s heavily-accented rabbi can be tough to understand.
Director Jason Lowith uses visuals that add heft and dimension. Video effects transform snow to falling stars in the set’s background, cause walls to waver back and forth, and create real eeriness around the climatic approach of an angel. This haunting, unshrinking production makes the audience stare unflinchingly at what the afflicted and those around them went through during a dark time in contemporary history.
Though some of the fear and ignorance of the ’80s captured here should feel like ancient history, many of the show’s themes and moments feel relevant today: a fringe enthusiasm for a a rebirth of conservativism, a wheeling-and-dealing Washington where the powerful reign; deception from unapologetic hypocrites; even grating and tone-deaf soliloquies from the privileged.
Angels if America is a commitment, to be sure, but Jason Lowith’s direction of Part 1 never leaves audiences checking their watches or letting their minds wander. After an abrupt but dramatic ending, the show should leave viewers rattled but ready to face Part 2 with open minds and hearts.
Angels if America runs through October 30 at Round House Theatre. Part 2 debuts September 25, and both run in repertory until closing. Tickets ($50-$75) are available online.
