BWW Reviews: Intiman's ANGELS IN AMERICA PT. 2 Lacks Punch

If you remember, Dear Readers, three weeks ago I said that Intiman's production of Part 1 of Tony Kushner's masterpiece, "Angels in America" still resonated through Kushner's script but the show felt under done and lacked focus. But I hoped it would settle into itself over time. I also hoped that the settling in to the characters would affect the power of the second part, "Angels in America Part 2: Perestroika". Alas, it did not. While it's still, again, Kushner's beautiful script, the show lacks the heart, punch and commitment to the piece to make it truly great. And while you may think that now this one needs to settle in, I think it stems from a larger issue.

But let's deal with the wonderful story first. We pick up right where Part 1 left off. Prior (Adam Standley) has been visited from an Angel (Marya Sea Kaminski) who has named him a prophet. Joe (Ty Boice) has left his mentally unstable wife Harper (Alex Highsmith) in order to indulge his gay proclivities and has moved in with Louis (Quinn Franzen), Prior's ex-boyfriend. Joe's Mother, Hannah (Anne Allgood,) has come into New York to try and help straighten Joe's life out. And ultra conservative Roy Cohn (Charles Leggett) has contracted AIDS and treats it like any other hostile force in his life that he can intimidate away while his flamboyant nurse Belize (Timothy McCuen Piggee) attends to him unfazed by his bravado. And now we get to see where the setup in Part 1 leads as we watch these very disparate lives intertwine together.

Ultimately Part 2 is the uppercut that knocks us out after the one-two punch setup of Part 1, or at least it should be. But director Andrew Russell, while hitting all the moments, fails to instill a solid flow and through-line for the show and his cast never quite connects fully with the piece or with each other. There are a lot of fine performances up there but only occasionally do they feel a part of the same show. Plus the minimalist and deconstructed nature of the set and staging is all well and good but I don't need to see every setup backstage. And I especially don't need to see Kaminski getting repeatedly harnessed up to fly in as the angel which completely sapped her gravitas.

But as I said there are some wonderful performances still. Allgood and Kaminski both have much more to do in this part and run with that. Kaminski's angel still manages a humorous otherworldliness (even with the staging issues) and she completely sells it. Allgood's Hannah brings in a ton of power and also one of the truly lovely and connected moments of the show as she and Standley face-off and ultimately find solace with each other. Standley's commitment to his character has only grown since Part 1 and is truly one of the shining points of the show. Leggett still manages some great moments brought over from Part 1 and he too brings some nice connection with Piggee in their scenes. But it was Franzen, Highsmith and Boice who just never seemed to connect. Yes, they have some fine moments and plenty of stage presence and are not bad by any stretch of the imagination but I never felt they connected with the show, the audience or each other and ultimately lacked much of an arc in their journey which left them a bit flat and without a payoff.

When all is said and done it's still Kushner's gorgeous play and that's worth seeing on its own merits. But it just never quite rises to the glory that I was so hoping for when I heard Intiman was bringing it back. It just felt like badly done Shakespeare. All the pretty words are there but there's not enough meaning behind them. And for that reason I'm giving this a MEH+ with my three letter rating system. Some fine moments and Kushner's play but not quite there.

"Angels in America Part 2: Perestroika" performs at the Cornish Playhouse through September 21st along with continued performances of Part 1. For tickets or information contact the Intiman box office at 206-315-5838 or visit them online at www.Intiman.org.

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