Angels in America Cast of New Voice Co.

Seeing the HBO version of Angels in America brought back fond memories of New Voice Co.’s production of Angels in America in the mid-90’s. I was always amazed how people can endure watching the 3 ½ hour play, and that’s per part, mind you, and there were days when both the Millennium and Perestroika parts were shown, so that’s a total of 7 hours, not including the eating and traveling time. But, miraculously, people came, I think, because they were so entranced by the powerful intensity of the script.

Monique Wilson Easily the most well-known among the cast, this visionary has made strides in Philippine theatre with her own company, aptly named New Voice Co. According to a newspaper article, she is now going back to London to make it her home base, and establish a New Voice Co. counterpart there.

Of course, she played Harper, the pill-popping housewife done by Mary Louise Parker in the HBO version. She generously took a chance by choosing me to alternate with her for the role.

Joshua Spafford and Ebong Joson These two actors alternated in the role of Joe Pitt, the Mormon husband who was secretly gay. Joshua is now in New York, bravely taking on the Broadway challenge, while Ebong continues his career in film.

Ebong’s most recent project is the Benjamin Bratt World War II movie “The Great Raid,” where he plays his grandfather, who helped out the Americans during the war. I recently saw him in the Barney show where he gleefully showed off his baby while I was hosting onstage.

Tami Monsod and Phil Holme Tami is now one of the regulars of New Voice Co., and she played Mother Pitt, the role that won the Emmy for Meryll Streep, while Phil now has his own theatre co., and played Roy Cohn, the Al Pacino role that also garnered an Emmy for his performance.

Michael Williams and RS Francisco Michael, of course, is still going strong with his theatre career, while RS, for a period, went into assistant directing for TV commercials, before going into business, but, he has personally told me that the siren call of acting is too strong so he’s going back to it. I had fun with Michael and RS as they played Pryor, the beleaguered AIDS patient left by his freaked out boyfriend.

Carlo Vergara Carlo bravely took on all the shows as Louie when there was a problem with his alternate. He also designed the Angels in America poster, which I loved because of its clean lines. As I’ve written before, this multi-talented man will open a play based on his comic book, Zsazsa Zaturnnah, in February 2006 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Lourdes Faberes Taking on the multiple roles of Angel, nurse, homeless person, etc., Lourdes has courageously gone to London to try out West End. Unfortunately, we can only see her work in a Brit TV production of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Jesus Christ Superstar, where she stood out with her energy and head-turning looks.

Jamie Wilson, Tong Perez and Apollo Abraham These actors played Belize, the gay nurse who happens to be the ex of Pryor, and who fills in to help him out when Louie turns out to be an absentee boyfriend. But my interaction with these men is when they were doing Mr. Lies, the travel agent Harper hallucinates about when she wants lies instead of the truth. Jeffrey Wright, the actor who played it for the HBO version, snagged an Emmy for his portrayal.

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