Despite its excesses and nearly three-hour length, off-Broadway’s Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven is never dull. The same cannot be said for the Public Theater’s revival of Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day. This 1985 work was Kushner’s first and definitely shows the sparks of genius later responsible for Angels in America, but it’s also overlong, talky, and still doesn’t entirely work in theatrical terms in spite of revisions by Kushner for this production. (The original Day was workshopped off-off-Broadway in 1985. Its professional premiere was in 1987 at San Francisco’s Eureka Theater. The Public presented the first Off-Broadway production in 1990.)
Set in Germany during the early 1930s, A Bright Room Called Day follows a group of progressive intellectuals as they ineffectually cope with the rise of Hitler. Sometime actress Agnes (brilliantly conflicted Nikki M. James) seeks to avoid confrontation and action, hoping the Nazi regime will blow over. Her Hungarian lover Husz (fiery Michael Esper) and Communist activist Annabella (solid Linda Emond) advocate revolution. Fellow actress Paulinka (sleek Grace Gummer) and gay chum Gregor (vital Michel Urie) escape the pending disaster by smoking opium and pursuing anonymous sex, respectively. In addition, Agnes’s surprisingly well-appointed flat (the room of the title, beautifully realized by designer David Rockwell) is visited by a mysterious old woman representing hunger and complacency (Estelle Parsons, still powerful at 92) and the devil himself in the person of a vulgar middle-class merchant (commandingly crude Mark Margolis).
The basic structure is compelling enough with Der Fuhrer’s power grab detailed by menacing supertitles and images (Lucy MacKinnon’s projection design and Bray Poor’s sound design create a harrowing atmosphere). But in the original production, Kushner added a figure from 1985 named Zillah to draw parallels between the action of the play and Ronald Reagan’s shift of America toward the right. This awkward imposition drew the most criticism. Now Kushner has added a second interrupter called Xillah, a stand-in for the author himself, making further commentary and obvious connections between Hitler, Reagan, and the current occupant of the White House. Though Crystal Lucas-Perry’s Zillah and Jonathan Hadary’s Xillah are movingly played, and the dialogue Kushner gives them is sometimes fascinatingly astute political observation, these characters slow down the action and drain the proceedings of drama. When they come on, the emphasis changes from frightening life-or-death decisions to dry seminar.
Oskar Eustis, who directed the 1987 Eureka Theater production, gives this difficult, uneven work the best possible production, intensely human and paced with variety and wit. But, ultimately, it’s unsatisfying.
