A year ago, Valencia College Theatre surprised me with a highly affecting production of the first half of “Angels in America,” Tony Kushner’s sprawling and Pulitzer prize-winning masterwork. In fact, I was so moved by the freshness of spirit the students in the cast brought to the work that I designated the production one of the year’s Critic’s Picks.
Part Two of Kushner’s “gay fantasia on national themes” takes the stage this week, with director Jeremy Seghers reassembling his cast from 2022.
As seen at a dress rehearsal, “Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika,” succeeds the same ways the first half did. The student actors make their youthfulness work for them, and Seghers gets performances from them that lets all of Kushner’s great monologues sound natural while acknowledging the beauty of the language without belaboring it.
The story picks up right where it left off: It’s the mid-1980s and Prior is suffering with AIDS. He has just been visited by an Angel, who has proclaimed him a prophet. Meanwhile, Prior’s ex-boyfriend Louis has just gotten entangled with closeted Joe. His wife, Harper, finds an escape through valium-induced fantasies, while his mother, Hannah, finds a world she didn’t expect upon arriving in New York City.
Prior’s friend Belize, a nurse, has a new patient: Roy Cohn — a character from real life. He was Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel during the senator’s Communist witch hunt of the 1950s. Cohn is also in the closet and he also has AIDS — and he’s haunted by the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, whom he prosecuted on espionage charges, leading to her execution.
(There’s a synopsis of Part One, “Millennium Approaches” in the playbill, if you need a refresher.)
Seghers, in 2022 named the Orlando Sentinel pick for best director of a drama for his work on “Millennium Approaches,” once again demonstrates a fine understanding of the rhythm of Kushner’s scenes and the way they come together in a tapestry of America’s soul.
“You come to room 1013 over at the hospital and I’ll show you America: Terminal, crazy and mean,” states nurse Belize.
Marquise Hillman plays the nurse with sly style, landing zingers almost matter-of-factly. And if their relative inexperience means there’s the occasional wobble, the actors all find plenty of moments to shine, as well — from Luana Fugulin’s dramatic Angel pronouncement to Sean Perry’s remorse after a fight, well staged by Bill Warriner.
Chris Moux’s take on Louis is less cynical than most, with a believable air of a man still trying to find his place in the world. Mary Grace Meyer’s Harper is no dreamer but delivers a beautifully wistful final speech. The two nonstudent actors, John DiDonna and Sarah Lockard, deliver typically outstanding work, with Lockard lighting up as Hannah finds a new lease on life and DiDonna relishing the last, twisted moments of Cohn’s existence.
But this is Edwin Perez’s show all the way. As Prior, he is terrified, angered, regretful, hopeful — and when the occasion calls for it, very funny. As Prior’s body grows weaker, Perez beautifully shows his spirit get stronger.
The “Perestroika” of the title refers to the great change that was happening in the Soviet Union as the 1990s began. The characters marvel at the end of the Cold War and a new post-Communism day for Russia in a sequence that now carries a new poignancy with Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
But that, too, fits the themes of the play: Human resilience in the face of adversity and the all-too-human need to grow, to change, to create, to move. Or as Perez’s Prior puts it so well: “I want more life.”
‘Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika’
Length: 3:45, including two intermissions
Where: Valencia College Theatre, 701 N. Econlockhatchee Trail in Orlando
When: Through Feb. 25
Cost: $12; $10 for seniors, students, alumni, Valencia employees
Info: events.valenciacollege.edu
Follow me at facebook.com/matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com.
