Under the direction of
Niclas R. Olson and with super performances by a cast including Christian
Carvajal, Anthony Neff, Bonnie Vandver, Austin C. Lang, Terrence Lockwood, Sara
May, and Andrea Weston-Smart, Olympia Little Theatre’s staged reading of Angels in America Part I: Millennium
Approaches is a new high for local theater.
It is a huge show in more
ways than one. It is huge in concept and in length (it is a two-part, seven-act
behemoth; part one is three acts, approximately three hours in length including
two 10-minute intermissions), and it is monumental in the manner in which the
controversial-for-its-time subject matter is handled. It is the story of the
early years of the AIDS epidemic when President Ronald Reagan refused to even
acknowledge the existence of what was then often referred to as the gay cancer.
Written by activist playwright Tony Kushner, Angels in America (the two parts combined) captured two Tony
Awards, two Drama Desk Awards and a Pulitzer Prize.
Olympia Little Theatre is
doing it as a staged reading. Unfortunately, the run of the play is so short
that I can’t post this review of part one before its final production. I can
only hope that my review of part one will encourage theater goers to see part
two, which runs Feb. 26 to March 1.
Being a staged reading, the
actors are “on book.” But most of them have their lines down so well that the
scripts they hold in hand are almost props. They rarely glance at the words,
and in almost every other way it is a fully produced show.
The set design by Olson is
ingenious. In his director’s notes he quotes Kushner: “It’s OK that the wires
show, and maybe it’s good that they do, but the magic should at the same time
be thoroughly amazing.” Olson’s set design enhances this concept. It looks like
a warehouse of sorts, with stacks of trunks, suitcases, tables and chairs, a
fold-up bed, and cardboard boxes representing various offices and apartments in
New York. The back wall is unfinished, with exposed studs, and a huge stack of
boxes fills in one large gap in the wall. This set makes no sense in terms of
accurately depicting the various settings, but it marvelously creates the mood
of the play and allows characters to interact without having to change sets.
Joe Pitt (Neff) is an
up-and-coming political operative who is married to Harper Pitt (May) and who
quits his clerking job in New York to go to work for Roy Cohn
(Carvajal). Cohn was a ruthless political operative and one of the few actual
historic characters in the play. He helped Sen. Joseph
McCarthy during the Communist witch hunts and helped prosecute Julius
and Ethel Rosenberg. Cohn was also a semi-closeted gay man—in the play he
says he’s not gay but he fucks men. He says it repeatedly and defiantly. Joe
Pitt is also gay, but has not yet come to terms with his sexual orientation.
In contrast to Cohn and
Pitt, Louis Ironson (Lang) and Prior Walter (Phil Folan) are an openly gay
couple who desperately love one another. Prior is dying of AIDS, and the role
of caretaker is more than Ironson can handle.
I will not get in the plot
any further except to say that there are heavy religious themes (Cohn and Prior
are both Jewish, and Pitt is Mormon), and many of the characters interact with
ghosts and angels.
Carjaval, Lang and Folan
turn in excellent performances. In supporting roles, Bonnie Vandver does a
yoman’s job of playing numerous characters, including a rabbi, the ghost of
Ethel Rosenberg, and Joe Pitt’s mother, and May nicely handles the challenging
assignment of portraying Pitt’s somewhat mentally ill wife, Harper.
Weston-Smart is believable in a variety of roles, including the angel of the
title. Lockwood manages to be campy without going overboard as a former drag
performer.
This is a powerful,
disturbing and intellectually challenging play about gay and religious themes
and liberally sprinkled with adult language.
Part II: “Perestroika”
opens Feb. 26.
WHEN: 7:55 p.m. Thursday-Saturday
and 1:55 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26 - March. 1
WHERE: Olympia Little Theatre, 1925 Miller Ave., NE, Olympia
TICKETS: $8
INFORMATION: (360) 786-9484, http://olympialittletheater.org/
Tip jar - With the exception of reviews reprinted from my monthly
theater column in The News Tribune and my weekly art criticism column in the Weekly
Volcano, I do not get paid for reviews. There’s a tip jar in the sidebar to the
right. Tips help cover my expenses and every little bit helps. Thank you.
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