"Angels in America" at Berkeley Rep

Berkeley Rep photo by Kevin Berne

I missed this the first time around. Tony Kushner's Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes was one of the defining theatrical events of the late 20th century, and I didn't see it. Didn't really know about it until it was already gone. And in many ways that's apt, because I also managed to miss a lot of the events that are the subject of the plays because I didn't live in the Bay Area (or New York) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The one brief hiatus I took from living in the Bay Area, and that was it. So I can't relate to a lot of this story of the early days of the AIDS epidemic the way so many of my friends and family do.

All that said, Berkeley Rep's revival of this epic story is incredible, and definitely qualifies as a "must see" event.

The Play(s)

Angels in America is such a big story, it comes in two parts, called Millennium Approaches (Part I) and Perestroika (Part 2). For the most part I will just refer to the whole thing as Angels in America, unless I need to make a specific point about one part or the other.

I'm not going to try to summarize the more than seven-and-a-half hours of drama that make up this show. It is an epic story of the early days of the AIDS crisis, from several key perspectives. The main characters are

• a gay couple, Prior and Louis
• a closeted Mormon law clerk, Joe, and his wife, Harper
• Belize, an African American nurse who is friends with Prior and Louis
• Roy Cohn, who is Joe's mentor
• Joe's mother, Hannah
• The Angel

There are plenty of other supporting parts, played by these same actors, but that's the bulk of the cast.

It's quite a remarkable recreation of the late 1980s, with lots of echoes that connect with issues today.

The Production

It wouldn't be an overstatement to call it spellbinding. Neither of the parts of the play, over three-and-a-half hours each, feels long, and the break between is a refreshing chance to catch one's breath and get ready for more.

Stephen Spinella as Cohn is remarkable, revealing both the charismatic and the horrifying in his portrayal of a real-life character. The fact that Spinella originated the role of Prior in the premiere of Angels long ago is all the more fascinating, suggesting we rethink how we slot our selves and others into categories of good and evil, among other things.

The production itself is largely stripped-down, which makes for smooth transitions between scenes and also keeps the focus on the people more than the setting. The actual angel felt a bit awkward in costuming, but I suspect that was a conscious nod to the original staging (which I didn't see) as well as comporting with the portrayal of the angels in general later on (trying not to spoil things here!).

Suffice it to say that the staging manages to suggest the proper time period without explicitly recreating it, which works fine.

The acting was mostly excellent, though I found both Joe (Danny Binstock) and Harper (Bethany Jillard) a bit flat. Caldwell Tidicue as Belize was terrific, though I gather audience members either farther away or sometimes behind him had some trouble picking up his voice. But the characterization of Belize felt spot-on. And Carmen Roman as Hannah (and many smaller roles) was quite striking.

Much has been written of the reunion of director Tony Taccone with Kushner, since they created the original production at Eureka Theatre. Much has changed over those years, but Taccone clearly still has a clear eye for what this show is supposed to be, and the production reflects that.

Bottom Line

The fact that productions of this show are still selling out in London and New York suggests there is a resonance in the story with current events, but it will always have a special place in the Bay Area, and having a local production makes good sense.

The show runs a bit more, through July 22nd, and it's well worth seeing if you have the opportunity. Sorry it took me so long to finish writing this up--I've been seriously testing the boundaries of "too much theater" as well as trying to live the rest of my life. But Angels in America remains an iconic piece of American theater, and is worth the investment of time to see it.