Gamm’s Angels in America, Part 2, Beautiful, Complex

After seeing their production of “Angels in America, Part 2,” which opened on Sept. 25, I stand mistaken. For this continuation of the story, subtitled “Perestroika,” dives even deeper into the world of its characters and brings everything to a definitive conclusion.

Once again directed by Brian McEleney and featuring the same cast, this is a masterful entertainment – equal parts tragic, surreal, and humorous, with superior acting. 

At the end of Part 1, Prior (Haas Regen) had been visited by the Angel (Rachael Warren). What does she want and why is she visiting him?

Prior is living with AIDS and the Angel informs him she is the Angel of America. Prior is now a prophet, a fate which places him at the center of the story and impacts everyone’s lives.

Meanwhile, Prior’s boyfriend Louis (Ben Steinfeld) cruelly walked out on him after discovering his illness. Louis is now in a sexual relationship with Joe Pitt (Jeff Church), a deeply closeted gay Mormon Republican. 

Joe’s mentor and close friend, the infamous attorney Roy Cohn (Tony Estrella) is confined to a hospital bed, dying of AIDS. This was the 1980s, a time of inaction by the federal government about the growing pandemic. “Perestroika” refers to the softening relationship between the United States and Russia. 

Joe’s unhappy wife Harper (Gabrielle McCauley) struggles to understand her husband’s attraction to men while nursing her own hurt feelings. 

Estrella is darkly funny as the high-strung, foul-mouthed Cohn, a seething cauldron of fury. Cohn hordes a secret stash of AZT, an experimental drug therapy. Many of the show’s most engaging scenes center on Cohn, an unrepentant racist and vulgarian, prone to casually tossing out insults at his male nurse Belize (Rodney Witherspoon II). 

Belize is a worthy opponent for Cohn, as he maintains his dignity and composure while performing his duties. Belize is a proud gay man and expresses his contempt for this loathsome creature yet at the same time is able to show a little compassion.

Kushner’s dialogue is alternately poetic, satirical, and philosophical as these characters search for happiness, or at the very least, some redemption. 

Regen is again outstanding as Prior, who is given more complexity which allows him to show different aspects of his personality. Prior bonds with Joe’s mother, Hannah, ( a note-perfect turn by Jeanine Kane) after collapsing on the floor. Their friendship seems highly improbable but we see these two very different people realizing their common humanity.

Steinfeld’s Louis is perhaps the most flawed character. Louis is outspoken in his political beliefs. He is intelligent, self-righteous, and more than a bit hypocritical. 

Louis berates Joe for taking anti-gay positions as a clerk for a conservative judge and is mortified when he learns Joe is friends with Roy Cohn. Louis manages to push Joe over the edge, which results in a savage beating. He is unable to reflect on his own failings, such as abandoning Prior. 

The saddest moment in the play is when Prior notes how the people living with AIDS all have someone taking care of them. He is the one who does not.

Church magnificently conveys Joe’s inner torment over his sexuality. Cohn is furious when Joe reveals he is sleeping with a man – Louis. Joe has looked up to this man and is utterly dismayed to be on the receiving end of his condemnation. It’s tragic because Joe has no one else to confide in.

There is so much that is right about “Angels in America, Part 2.” The set design, which resembles a grungy subway station, contributes to the sense of loneliness these characters feel. As soon as a set of characters are about to finish speaking, actors will move a bed or a park bench into place for the next scene. This show is nearly three hours and never stops moving.

The actors and the creative team behind this production have done the impossible: telling a story which surpasses Part One in its beauty, complexity, and humor. It is an absolute must-see.

Angels in America, Part 2: Perestroika runs through October 12. The Gamm Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Boulevard, Warwick, RI. Run time is 3 hours with two intermissions. For tickets, call 401-723-4266 or visit gammtheatre.org.

ABOUT ANGELS IN AMERICA

In the first part of Tony Kushner’s epic, set in 1980s New York City, a gay man is abandoned by his lover when he contracts the AIDS virus, and a closeted Mormon lawyer’s marriage to his pill-popping wife stalls. Other characters include the infamous McCarthy-ite lawyer Roy Cohn, Communist Party member Ethel Rosenberg, a former drag queen named Belize who works as a nurse, and an angel. In the second part, the plague of AIDS worsens, relationships fall apart as new ones form, and unexpected friendships take flight. Masterfully exploring love, sex, religion, and family, Angels in America is “the most ambitious American play of our time, an epic that ranges from earth to heaven.” [Newsweek]

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Angels in America by Tony Kushner

Directed by Brian McEleny^

CAST

Prior Walter…..Haas Regen*

Roy Cohn…..Tony Estrella*

Joe Pitt…..Jeff Church*

Harper Pitt…..Gabrielle McCauley*

Hannah Pitt…..Jeanine Kane*

Louis Ironson…..Ben Steinfeld*

Belize…..Rodney Witherspoon II*

The Angel…..Rachael Warren*

CREW

Set Design Patrick Lynch+

Costume Design David T. Howard

Lighting Design Jeff Adelberg+

Sound Design Peter Sasha Hurowitz

Dialect Coach Rebecca Gibel

Director of Production Jessica Hill Kidd

Stage Manager Anais Bustos*

Assistant Stage Manager Robin Grady*

^Member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical union.

+Member of IATSE, the union representing Scenic, Costume, Lighting, Sound and Projection designers in Live Performance.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Author: Joe Siegel

Joe Siegel is a regular contributing writer for WarwickPost.com. His reporting has appeared in The Sun Chronicle in Attleboro and EDGE.