Review: ANGELS IN AMERICA (PART 1: MILLENNIUM APPROACHES) at The Gamm Theatre

Gamm Theatre closes another unforgettable season by setting the bar high—immeasurably high—for next season with its soulful, spirited, no-frills and all-heart production of Tony Kushner’s Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, “Angels in America.”

The first of two parts, “Millenium Approaches,” premiered on Broadway in 1993 and won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and Tony Award for Best Play. The following year, part two, “Perestroika,” also won the Tony for Best Play. A decade later, the epic work was adapted into an Emmy-winning miniseries starring Meryl Streep and Al Pacino.

The play takes place in 1985 during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. “Millenium” introduces a young New York couple, the neurotic, high-strung Louis (Ben Steinfeld), and his more composed lover, Prior (Haas Regen), who reveals he has AIDS.

Louis crosses paths at work with Joe Pitt (Jeff Church), a married, closeted Mormon under the employ of renowned attorney Roy Cohn (Tony Estrella), who also has AIDS. Joe’s wife, the unhinged Harper (Gabrielle McCauley), pops valium like Pez, while her husband goes out at night after work for “long walks.”

Unable to cope, Louis abandons Prior, coincidentally around the same time Joe decides to come out to his wife. Meanwhile, Prior and Roy become increasingly symptomatic and fall victim to hallucinations. Roy is haunted by the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg (Phyllis Kay), a notorious communist whom he helped put to death, while Prior is visited by his ancestors and kept awake by an ominous voice—of an angel, perhaps?

Director Brian McEleney presents an exceptionally humane version of the material that calls special attention to the characters’ personalities, as well as their formidable predicaments amidst the overarching national crisis. The dream sequences and supernatural elements, integral to the storyline, are minimalistic yet informative and entertaining, and the staging, where select actors remain visible in the background during each scene, is haunting and particularly effective.

The set, designed to resemble an oversized public restroom—complete with scattered, illicit writing and drawings on the walls—initially gave me pause, but its decadence quickly served to embolden the stage interplay and Kushner’s intricate, emotionally fraught dialogue.

Enough can’t be said of this talented cast and the roster of outstanding performances. As the flamboyant, endearing prophet-to-be left to his own devices, Regen’s Prior is amusing, commanding, and heartbreaking, and Steinfeld delivers an exemplary, stoic performance as the preachy, self-deprecating Louis. Rodney Witherspoon II is delightfully disarming as the couple’s catty mutual friend, Belize.

Church’s earnest, poignant portrayal of Joe drips with intensity and hesitancy, and as his anguished wife, Harper, McCauley is compelling, convincing, and deeply unsettling. Estrella’s superior performance as the evil closet queen, Roy Cohn, can only be described as monumental, and the always impressive Phyllis Kay shines as a rabbi, Rosenberg, and Joe’s mother, Hannah. Rachael Warren tackles an assortment of roles (a realtor, nurse, and the angel) with style and subtlety.

I was left wanting more from every member of this fine ensemble, and the good news is, there is a lot more to come in part two.

McEleney was asked, why “Angels” and why now? Well…why not now? This is the fifth production I have seen (the second in less than a year), and it never gets old. There is something new to discover each time you experience it, the emotional punch of the words and actions never lessens, and the script is just as fresh and forceful more than three decades later.

Gamm’s extraordinary production of “Angels in America” is a quintessential must-see and takes audiences on a profound emotional and philosophical journey—as only great theater can.

“Angels in America/Part One: Millenium Approaches” runs through June 22nd at The Gamm Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Blvd in Warwick. For tickets and information, call 401-723-4266 or visit https://www.gammtheatre.org/

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