'Angels in America' Comes to Boston

Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
Play by Tony Kushner; directed by Jason Southerland and Nancy Curran Willis; associate producer/production dramaturg: Bridget Frey; production stage manager: Kathryn Most; set designer: Laura C. McPherson; sound designer: Nathan Leigh; lighting designer: John Malinowski; costume designer: Rachel Padula Shufelt; wing designer: James Williston; technical director: Larry Devlin; production manager: Mark Sickler

Cast:
Elizabeth Aspenlieder – Angel, Emily, Homeless Woman, Mormon Mother
Bree Elrod – Harper Pitt, Martin Heller, Council of Principalities
Sean Hopkins – Joe Pitt, Prior Walter 1, Mormon Father, Council of Principalities
Richard McElvain – Roy Cohn, Prior Walter 2, Council of Principalities
Susanne Nitter – Hannah Pitt, Rabbi Chemelwitz, Henry, Ethel Rosenberg, Council of Principalities, Prelapsarianov
Maurice Parent – Belize, Mr. Lies, Council of Principalities
Tyler Reilly – Prior Walter, Man in the Park
Christopher Webb – Louis Ironson, Council of Principalities

Performances: Now through February 10
Box Office: 617-933-8600 or online at http://www.BostonTheatreWorks.com.

Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Angels in America, has long been my favorite play. Although I had never seen it performed live, I loved the HBO film adaptation and could not imagine how the show would function onstage, where the quick location changes couldn't happen as easily as on film. I found my answer within the first fifteen minutes of Boston Theatre Works' production of the play.

Laura C. McPherson's black-and-white set of moving rectangular panels served as a backdrop to the changing locales, created by dragging on furniture pieces: an armchair and lamp to signify Joe and Harper's apartment, a queen-sized bed to represent Prior and Louis' apartment, a table and chairs to function as a restaurant. Creating these abstract spaces centered around only a few central pieces of furniture allowed scene changes to happen relatively quickly and fluidly. Kushner's notes dictate that the entire play progress as a continuous flow of action without blackouts, and while Boston Theatre Works' production team made a valiant effort to carry out these wishes, the many blackouts between scenes, punctuated by Nathan Leigh's jarring sound design, drew attention to these pauses, rather than downplaying them. In addition, one of the most powerful scenes, in which the two main couples are having overlapping arguments, seemed to slow down each time it switched from one couple to the next instead of feeding off the energy of one another. The most effective scene changes happened when cast members, bundled up in street clothes, unobtrusively moved pieces on and offstage without it going to blackout.

There were, however, times when the actors were able to compensate for this lag and keep the story moving forward. The energetic staging of Jason Southerland and Nancy Curran Willis as well as the cast's uniform dedication to their characters throughout the three-hour play kept the audience engaged, despite the blackouts and sheer length of time. As Kushner intended, each actor played one central character as well as one or more secondary characters. These character switches were made easy to follow by Rachel Padula Shufelt's costume design and actors made these shifts seamlessly and believably. Most notable was Elizabeth Aspenlieder's transformation from Emily, the hospital nurse, to a crazed homeless woman.

Standouts among the cast were Tyler Reilly as Prior Walter, Sean Hopkins as Joe Pitt, and Maurice Parent as Belize. Reilly tackled the difficult and complex character of Prior with gusto, delivering a heart-wrenching, emotionally charged performance of a man dying from AIDS, abandoned by his boyfriend of four years. Hopkins played the part of Joe, a closeted Mormon struggling to maintain his marriage to a Valium-addict and suppress his true sexual desires, with sweet, endearing innocence, while Parent's comic timing and flamboyance added a touch of lightness to contrast the dark, cynical humor of the play.

Christopher Webb as Louis Ironson grew into his character as the play progressed, believably becoming a man torn apart by his own inability to stay with his lover when his lover develops AIDS. Finally, Bree Elrod gave a frenzied, overly gesticulated performance as Harper, the Valium-addict who fears her husband, Richard McElvain was serviceable as the obnoxious but powerful lawyer Roy Cohn, and Susanne Nitter moved through her various minor roles with versatility.

The truth about this particular play, though, is that despite any flaws in the production quality, Kushner's words carry themselves. They have impact even if delivered by a weak actor and, conversely, they are beyond powerful in the hands of a capable actor, such as Reilly. Angels in America is a theatrical event not to be missed, not because of Boston Theatre Works' production – although their production certainly does not detract from and indeed adds to Kushner's words in most respects – but because it is a play so moving and so resonant in today's world that it is important for everyone to witness. While the HBO film version is wonderful, there is nothing like the power of live theatre in bringing a message home, and that is just what Boston Theatre Works' Angels in America does for its audiences.