One ends up sympathizing a little with Tony Kushner’s lovers, teachers, friends: no one could be this relentlessly smart, smart, smart without getting a little exhausting. The second half of “Angels in America” features pretty much the first attempt by an English-language writer to develop a full-blown cosmology since Blake; I think Kushner’s has more semen in it, but there are parts of “Jerusalem: A Prophecy” that remain opaque. At any rate, I imagine you know what you’re in for: despair and hope, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Roy Cohn attended by Ethel Rosenberg. The Hypocrites’ production at Bailiwick remains dogged by the performance issues that marked “Millennium Approaches.” This time around, I was warming to Kurt Ehrmann’s Cohn; while the man’s reptilian charm is still lacking, Ehrmann tones down the blowhard act as Cohn faces his existential crisis. The best news is that “Perestroika” focuses centrally on Harper, played by the gifted Mechelle Moe, whose cool crackup contrasts favorably to the histrionics of Scott Bradley’s Prior. On the whole, the second part of this epic production seems more emotionally and artistically centered; director Sean Graney nails such set pieces as the angel’s appearance to Prior and the Mormon diorama show. (John Beer)
