Epic successfully tackles ‘Angels in America’

Posted 6/4/14

Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America” is a long, demanding epic play, divided into two three-hour parts. It is only fitting that Cranston’s Epic Theatre should tackle the beast.

Part I, …

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Epic successfully tackles ‘Angels in America’

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Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America” is a long, demanding epic play, divided into two three-hour parts. It is only fitting that Cranston’s Epic Theatre should tackle the beast.

Part I, “Millennium Approaches,” is masterfully directed by Ashley Arnold and Kevin Broccoli, with Broccoli owning the pivotal role of Louis, the partner of a man dying from AIDS. (Note: We will be reviewing Part Two, “Perestroika,” in two weeks.)

Subtitled “A Gay Fantasia on National Themes,” “Angels” deals with the AIDS crisis in the 1980s in New York City. Two of the characters are infected while others are affected by the HIV virus, which back then was the kiss of death.

Broccoli plays Louis, a gay man who loves to pontificate on politics, religion, relationships and his state of mind at any particular time. When his partner becomes seriously ill with the dreaded disease, it is too much for him to handle, and he splits.

Meanwhile, Roy Cohn (Yes, the Roy Cohn), a shady, infamous, closeted New York lawyer, contracts the disease but remains in complete denial.

Cohn is wooing Joe, a Mormon lawyer, to move to Washington, D.C. and join his firm. Joe (C.T. Larson), with strong homosexual tendencies and in denial himself, is married to Harper (Melanie Stone), a mentally troubled woman who hears voices and pops pills.

There’s more, but it would spoil things to let you in on it all.

The characters, thanks to Kushner’s clever writing, connect in a variety of ways, both physically and in fantasy.

All of the actors have their main roles in addition to minor ones, with Mary Paolino having the biggest challenge playing a rabbi, a nurse, an angel, Ethel Rosenberg and others. The ensemble cast works well with their many roles covering two three-hour performances.

Arnold and Broccoli have collaborated to successfully take this larger-than-life production and reduce it to the small space at Cranston’s Theatre 82. There are numerous scene changes that flow nicely thanks to Jenny White’s lighting and the smooth movement of the actors.

“Angels” is also a bit of a history lesson, with references to Sen. Joe McCarthy, the Rosenberg trial, Vietnam, the political ramifications of the AIDS crisis, and even some dreamlike references to early Americans.

The final scene (no, the angel doesn’t come through the ceiling in this production) leaves us with some hope and an interest in finding out what happens to the characters.

“Angels in America” is played in repertory through June 29. General admission is $15, $12 for students. There are two brief intermissions, with a chance to get a cold or hot drink, ice cream, or some delicious pastry and cookies at the adjoining café at 82 Rolfe St, down the street from the Park Theatre.

Dates vary for the two productions. You can go online at www.epictheatreri.org or call 490-9475.

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