DATE: Thursday, October 23, 1997            TAG: 9710220174

SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS         PAGE: 08   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: THEATER REVIEW 

SOURCE: Montague Gammon III 

                                            LENGTH:   79 lines

ODU'S ``ANGELS'' A GOOD SHOW

In the hands of the Old Dominion University Theatre program, ``Angels in America: Part II: Perestroika'' is unquestionably a good show. It's often memorable and consistently important.

One could make a case that this production is a ``must see,'' since no other theater around here is likely to take on a show this controversial, and certainly none has the technical resources to accommodate the spectacular elements demanded by Tony Kushner's script.

Yet for all the good and often superb acting, Christopher Hanna's fine directing, and the striking design and technical wizardry, there is a sense that this production has not reached the furious intensity the script warrants.

The play is fiercely passionate, in many senses of the term. People in it, like the ``oldest living Bolshevik'' whose address to a party congress opens the play, express themselves with the fervor of sexual, religious and political zealots.

Roy Cohn, the Commie-hating closet homosexual dying of AIDS, rants against everyone around him. Prior Walter, afflicted with the same disease, is terrified by an angel seeking to enlist him in a celestial dispute. Lovers squabble and fight, a mother seeks to save her son and his wife from sin and insanity, and a great swirl of coincidences unites Kushner's epic of life and death in 1986 New York.

Cohn and Walter are two of the major characters, along with Joe Pitt, described as a ``sensitive Republican Mormon homosexual lawyer,'' wife Harper and his mother, Hannah, a black drag queen nicknamed ``Belize'' who works in an AIDS ward, and Prior's former lover, Louis, with whom Joe falls in love. Then there's the Angel, seen only by Prior, Hannah and the audience.

The most visible performance is given by Jay Lockamy, as the cadaverous, pain-wracked and hate-spewing Cohn. Though the character initially comes across as more obnoxious than evil, Lockamy's acting gets more intense and more appropriate to the writing as Cohn's illness progresses.

Bruce Hanson returns in the role of Prior, which he played in last year's ODU production of ``Angels in America: Part One: Millenium Approaches.'' He is again on target and well worth watching, but Prior doesn't seem to have the same flash he did in the earlier show. It's more the situation than the acting that has changed. Prior is now alone, abandoned by his long-time companion and wrapped up in what may or may not be hallucinations about the angel who hails him as a prophet.

Natasha Bunnell is graceful, determined and surprisingly believable as that semi-divine visitor.

In the role of Belize, Brad Breckenridge gives a performance of pinpoint accuracy. In this world, the witty, thoughtful Belize is the voice of normalcy, of simple compassion, reason and humanity. Kent Collins turns in a nicely modulated, calm performance as the self-tormented Louis Ironson.

David Hart is a rather low-keyed Joe Pitt, Kellie Gilbert brings an appropriately lost quality to the part of Harper Pitt, and Frankie Little Hardin uses exceptional concentration to bring Hannah and a couple of secondary roles to life. Hardin may be at her best when she's playing Ethel Rosenburg, silently haunting Roy Cohn.

Kushner's writing combines moments of deft comedy, surpassing lyricism and insightful beauty with brief cliches of phrase and concept that are all the more evident because their surroundings are so well-crafted. Perhaps the intent is to show that some characters are given to mundanities of thought and expression, but the impression is of curious lapses by the author.

Elwood Robinson's set is impressive and rich in content without stealing focus from the actors. Phil Watson designed the lighting, which is more important than that of most plays in setting some of the scenes and focusing the audience's attention.

``Angels in America: Part II: Perestroika'' really is blessed with an array of talent from the writing to the design and the acting. Casual and serious fans of theater should give it their utmost attention. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

WANT TO GO?

WHAT: ``Angels in America: Part II: Perestroika'' by Tony Kushner

WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m.

Sundays through Nov. 2

WHERE: University Theatre, 4700 Hampton Blvd.

TICKETS: 683-5305

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