Review: Desert Rose's Gritty Production of ANGELS IN AMERICA, PART ONE, is Top-Notch, Although Depressing.

Desert Rose Playhouse has undertaken an ambitious project for its 2016 Gay Heritage play: Tony Kushner's ANGELS IN AMERICA, PART ONE: MILLENIUM APPROACHES. The company has succeeded spectacularly; director Jim Strait's superb staging of the iconic show about the challenges of being gay in the 1980's is a must-see.

ANGELS IN AMERICA, which consists of two separate plays, is not entertainment in the traditional sense. It resembles SCHINDLER'S LIST in helping teach future generations about the horrors that particular groups of people faced at different times in the 20th century. ANGELS IN AMERICA, PART ONE also invites its audience to think about secondary subjects that most people would rather avoid: Drug abuse, mental illness, cultural issues, societal selfishness, and political corruption.

The play focuses on two troubled couples: Louis Ironson (Daniel Gutierrez), a word processor for a New York law office, and his lover, Prior Walter (Nick Edwards); and a Mormon husband and wife, Joe Pitt (Alex Updike), a law clerk for the infamous Roy Cohn (Eliott Goretsky), and Harper Pitt (Allison Feist). When Prior (which is the character's first name, and not a title, as I originally thought) tells a disbelieving Louis that he has contracted AIDS, Louis decides that he cannot care for a sick loved one. Louis moves out, leaving Prior to cope with abandonment as well as AIDS. Meanwhile, Roy Cohn recommends Joe Pitt for a job in the Justice Department, but Valium-addicted Harper, who is in the middle of a nervous breakdown, does not want to move to Washington. The very Republican Joe, who previously believed that prayer would solve any moral conundrum, struggles to deal with a triple dilemma: What to do about his loyalty to Roy as Roy transforms from avuncular mentor to corrupt and vicious power-grabber; how to respond to his growing awareness about his own sexual preference; and whether he should remain with Harper.

All aspects of this more than three-hour, three-act production come together to weave a tapestry of rich dramatic elements. There are no weak links in the ensemble cast, most of whom play multiple roles, some of which bring the audience desperately needed comic relief. Watching Prior suffer through the physical pain of AIDS-related ailments, I almost believed that Nick Edwards was himself experiencing the ravages of the disease. Daniel Gutierrez succeeds at portraying Louis as a sympathetic character at one moment, who changes at the drop of a hat to a self-centered, passive-aggressive faux victim who rambles on about his guilt at abandoning Prior but does nothing to attempt to make things right. Alex Updike perfectly portrays the earnestness of a devout, decent, idealistic Republican husband whose illusions about the world, his job, and his family are shattered. Allison Feist is top-notch as the other half of this dysfunctional duo, who, one moment cowers in a chair, the next gleefully explores a daydream, and the next angrily confronts her more and more distant husband.

Who would have thought that anyone could provide Roy Cohn with a human, even humorous face? Yet, Eliott Goretsky succeeds so well that Cohn's transformation into what we all know was his real personality - that of a browbeating bully - is nonetheless shocking. Robert Ramirez, as Belize, a nurse-caretaker who steps into the breach when Louis deserts Prior, is so convincing that, when the character leaves behind his devil-may-care drag queen persona to angrily confront Louis, I was stunned.

The other two cast members, Loren Freeman and Adina Lawson, have smaller roles, but both are on stage for significant periods, with each playing four characters of both sexes. Ms. Lawson and Mr. Freeman flawlessly change their portrayals to suit each character, as if there were more than one actor playing each set of roles. Ms. Lawson brilliantly pulls off her Yiddish-accented Orthodox rabbi, complete with beard. She is equally brilliant in her other parts, including an other-worldly Ethel Rosenberg, returned to confront Roy Cohn, who was instrumental in her death sentence. Mr. Freeman is hilarious as a heavenly female impersonator and as a mentally ill homeless person who has an awkward conversation with one of Ms. Lawson's characters, Joe's overbearing mother.

The brilliance of Mr. Strait's direction shows in the way the characters interact, and in the actors' body language and facial expressions - I never caught any of them with a blank face or relaxed posture. Mr. Strait designed the set, the sound, and the sepia projections that help convey the scene's location. All of these elements contribute heavily to the play's atmosphere, as do Phil Murphy's lighting design, Mark Demry's and Kathryn Ferguson's costumes, and the representation of an angel, created by Tom Valach. Although the program does not separately credit the make-up artist, he or she also did a top-notch job; Prior's Kaposi Sarcoma lesions are horrifying.

Especially for such a small stage, the set is complex, consisting of, among other items, a double bed, a hospital bed, restaurant seating, and a pay-telephone kiosk. The actors moved the furniture in and out between scenes, except for the double bed, which closed into a clever Murphy bed structure on stage. The set design and the lighting allowed parallel scenes to take place in different locations, with the actors freezing in place when the lighting and action moved to the other side of the stage.

This play is only for mature audiences, because of its subject matter and language. There is a brief nude scene during Prior's physical exam. I usually find nude scenes on stage to be unnecessary. However, in this case, Prior's standing naked while a medical professional pokes and prods him in private spots demonstrates the dehumanization that results from a severe illness.

ANGELS IN AMERICA will cause some audience members to feel exceedingly uncomfortable. Nevertheless, I recommend that as many people as possible, gay and straight, attend this production, both because of the importance of the play itself and because Desert Rose presents it with such skill and passion.

Performances of ANGELS IN AMERICA, PART ONE: MILLENIUM APPROACHES are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM and Sundays at 2 PM, through February 21, 2016. Tickets are $33 for the evening performances and $30 for matinees.

The Desert Rose Playhouse is located just north of Frank Sinatra Boulevard, near the Emperor Buffet, at 69-620 Highway 111, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270. The Box Office opens at 4 p.m. before evening performances and at noon on Sundays. Tickets are available at the box office, by phone at 760-202-3000, and by Internet at http://www.desertroseplayhouse.org. There is no service charge for Internet or phone orders.

The rest of Desert Rose Playhouse's 2015-16 season consists of:

COCK by Mike Bartlett, March 11 - April 10, 2016, an award winning play performed in the round, without props or set pieces, in which a man who thought he was gay meets his dream woman and engages in the verbal equivalent of a cock-fight between them (hence the title).

JUNK by J. Michael Penny, April 29 - May 29, 2016, the world premiere of a new musical, in which two gay men with a large age gap have been offered the contents of a deceased man's house in exchange for tidying it up. It turns out that the house is stuffed with old porn. As the two men sort through the owner's belongings, they begin to learn a great deal about the deceased and about their unusual relationship to one another.

Desert Rose Playhouse, as a 501(c)(3) organization, must collect a third of its funds through gifts from the public. Financial donations are gratefully accepted. The address for financial contributions is P.O. Box 2256, Cathedral City, CA 92235.

Photo Credit: Morning Star Productions

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