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March 21 - May 17,2008
A View from the
Bridge
Reviewed April 4 by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 2:30 - one
intermission
t
A Potomac Stages Pick for a powerful
performance
by Delaney Williams |
Click here to buy the script
 |
The second half of the two play repertory of Arthur Miller
tragedies is his lesser known drama of a Brooklyn longshoreman whose
close knit family of Italian ancestry is rocked by the arrival of two cousins
from the old country. It shares the family concentration of the other,
Death of a Salesman, as well as the common theme
that the central character is perhaps the only one on stage who cannot or
will not see the disaster headed his way. As the narrating lawyer says, the
train wreck can be seen coming from the start - and not just because he
tells us so in the first scene. Unlike Death of a Salesman, however,
the audience gets to see some of the good side of the family's relationship
before everything comes unglued. Delaney Williams' performance is the
dominant one, as well it should be given the structure of Miller's script,
but there are a host of other fine performances that bring the piece to a
warmer feeling than Salesman ever achieves. Naomi Jacobson is outstanding as
his wife, David Agranov and Virginia Kull make an attractive pair of young
lovers - each with the ability to flash into anger, frustration or pure
determination at a moment's notice - and Noble Shropshire imbues the
narrating lawyer character with just a touch of human concern that also
helps soften the harder edges early on, without damaging their sharpness when
the story reaches its tragic conclusion. |
Storyline: Two Italian cousins of the wife of a Brooklyn dockworker enter
the country illegally in order to escape the poverty that has gripped the
family's post-World War II homeland. The dockworker welcomes them into his
home, an apartment he and his wife share with the niece he has raised from
childhood. One of them is attracted to her, however, and the dockworker's
generosity won't stretch that far. He claims to oppose their budding romance
because he assumes the young man just wants a marriage that would allow him
to remain in the country legally. In truth, jealousies and passions far
beyond that are at issue.Miller may be best known for Death of a
Salesman and The Crucible, but his output includes half a dozen
other plays deserving frequent remounting.
All My Sons was
given a thoughtful presentation by Quotidian Theatre a few years ago and
The Price is getting a fabulous staging
right now at Theater J with Robert Prosky and two of his sons. In each of his
major works, with the exception of The Crucible which was triggered
by Miller's response to the excesses of the McCarthy era, the focus has been
on the family in then-contemporary America, and the difficulty families have
in recognizing reality and coping with limitations that belie "The American
Dream." With this drama, he explores the impact of immigration policy on
families as well, making it particularly relevant in this day when that
issue is so prominently a factor in local as well as national politics.
The dockworker/husband/uncle is an appealing fellow in the hands of
Delaney Williams who delivers a well modulated performance, taking him from
happier times through to the final revelations in measured steps. At the
start, he's a bit of a loveable lunk, even if it is the 1950s and the family
is assumed to be headed by the man whose decisions are final. In this home,
however, mother knows better as shown in the sharp and finally emotionally
affecting performance of Naomi Jacobson. In addition to the youngsters, Agranov and Kull, Louis Cancelmi as the other cousin from Italy, contributes
a bit of youthful passion to the proceedings.
With the requirement to switch back and forth between the two shows
playing in rapidly revolving repertory (there are days when one show plays
at the matinee and the other in the evening) set designer Loy Arcena again
uses the structure of Arena's temporary home in Crystal City, fitting out
the wide but not deep or high playing space with an area constituting the
family's home and another area where all the outside activity is staged. It
concentrates the family scenes in a tighter cocoon than was apparent in
Salesman, perhaps as much a reflection of the blocking by the directors as
of the design of the space. At least at the start, the Brooklyn apartment
feels like a refuge from the cold outside world while the Loman family home
in Salesman never felt so comforting - even in the normally warm
first scene of the second act. Here it seems to work with, rather than
against the play, although it was strange to see the cast gathering up
furniture and clearing a space which soon becomes an area for the final
fight scene.
Written by Arthur Miller. Directed by Daniel Aukin. Fight choreography by
David S. Leong. Incidental music composed by Michael G. Keck. Design: Loy
Arcena (set) Laurie Churba Kohn (costumes) Bettie O. Rogers (wigs and hair)
Nancy Chertler (lights) Scott Suchman (photography) Susan R. White (stage
Manager). Cast: David Agranov, Louis Cancelmi, Rick Foucheux, Tim Getman,
Tara Giordano, Jeremy S. Holm, Naomi Jacobson, Virginia Kull, Nancy
Robinette, Stephen F. Schmidt, J. Fred Shiffman, Noble Shropshire, Cliff
Williams III, Delaney Williams. |
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March 14 - May 18, 2008
Death of a Salesman
Reviewed April 3 by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 3:00 - one
intermission
t
A Potomac Stages Pick for a wrenching
performance
by Rick Foucheux |
Click here to buy the script
 |
Arena kicks off a two-play repertory of Arthur Miller with an affecting and
effective performance by Rick Foucheux in one of the great roles for an
American actor, that of Willy Loman in Miller's Pulitzer Prize winning
portrayal of the failure of the American
dream. As the salesman who believes in success
“riding on a smile and a shoeshine” but whose life collapses on all sides,
Foucheux appears nearly claustrophobic as the traps his failures and
weaknesses have created slam shut on any avenue of escape. His failure to
see consequences beyond the immediate moment and his inability to understand
the causes of the collapse of everything he thought he had built is both
horrible to see and fascinating to watch. With a fine supporting cast and a
suitably un-handsome design which emphasizes the drab existence this
salesman has managed to provide for the Loman family, Miller's highly
theatrical play with its flashbacks, hallucinations and excruciating
breakdown scenes carries the emotional wallop that has made it one of the
more frequently produced tragic dramas of contemporary theater. |
Storyline: At the end of a career as a
traveling salesman, each of Willy Loman’s dreams turns sour. He looses his
job. His children turn out not to be the successes he dreamed about. He has
a loving wife but he hasn’t been faithful to her. He comes to believe that
he is worth more dead than alive, at least until the next premium on his
life insurance policy is due.Death of a Salesman is one of
those plays that many theatergoers see many times. Partially this is due to
the attraction it has for some of the finest actors. The role of Willy Loman
is a classic challenge that has drawn career-marking performances from the
likes of Lee J. Cobb, George C. Scott, Dustin Hoffman, Brian Dennehey and
Herschel Bernardi. Arena has staged it before with Robert Prosky as Willy.
Rick Foucheux holds his own in such exalted company although his performance
won't make anyone forget the others. Who could? Instead, he adds a rumpled,
dowdy and exhausted Willy to the tradition.
Nancy Robinette takes on the role of his wife, Linda. Her performance is
at its best in the less histrionic scenes where she can apply some subtle
sweetness to the part, but when her Linda looses it - either in her panic
over Willy's suicidal actions, her condemnation of her son's mistreatment of
their father or, finally, her grief at the graveside - she puts more volume
than visible thought into the blast. Jeremy S. Holm is sharp in the
outbursts of the older son who knows deep down in his soul that he's not
going to be the success his father wants him to be, while
Tim Getman does fine job on the always difficult role of the
oh-so-shallow youngest son who can abandon his father in the midst of an
emotional breakdown to chase a skirt. As the boy next door, Louis
Cancelmi matures nicely from the young object of ridicule in Willy's memory
to the adult who has built a successful legal practice not through charm and
personality but by intelligence and hard work, and J. Fred Shiffman is a
vision as Willy's uncle, which is just right since he really is a figment of
Willy's disturbed mind.
As one of a two play repertory, not only will this production share most
of its cast with A View from the Bridge (which will be reviewed separately),
it shares the basics of the scenic design of Loy Arcenas. Salesman is a
challenge for a designer who must cope with the limitations of the stage in
Arena's temporary space in Crystal City. The ceiling over the stage is too
low to allow the usual arrangement of bedrooms upstairs from the kitchen in
the Loman home, there's no space above to accommodate flying in set
pieces for flashbacks or hallucinations and restricted wing space does not
allow for slide
on pieces either. Strangely, for a play with the theme of the claustrophobia
Willy feels as his world closes in around him, Arcenas spreads the action
horizontally in a fairly spacious way. Laurie Churba Kohn provides Foucheux
with the frumpiest suit any worn out salesman ever wore - and it seems to
get frumpier and frumpier as scene follows scene until this disheveled hulk
of a man reaches his final failure.
Written by Arthur Miller. Directed by Timothy Bond. Fight choreography by David S. Leong. Incidental music composed by Michael G. Keck. Design: Loy Arcenas
(set) Laurie Churba Kohn (costumes) Bettie O. Rogers (wigs and hair) Nancy
Chertler (lights) Scott Suchman (photography) Susan R. White (stage
Manager). Cast: Jamieson Baker, Louis Cancelmi, Rick Foucheux, Tim Getman,
Tara Giordano, Jeremy S. Holm, Naomi Jacobson, Virginia Kull, Nancy
Robinette, Stephen F. Schmidt, J. Fred Shiffman, Noble Shropshire, Cliff
Williams III. |
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June 6 - July 13, 2008
The Mystery
of Irma Vep
Brad Oscar and J. Fred Schiffman play all the characters in Charles Ludlam's
spoof of popular culture under the direction of Rebecca Bayla Taichman.
August 29 - October 5, 2008
Resurrection
The world premiere of a blend of music, poetry and dance by Daniel Beaty,
whose Emergence-SEE! was a Potomac Stages Pick in July of 2007, will be a
co-production with Hartford Stage of Connecticut.
September 5 - 28, 2008
Wishful
Drinking
Carrie Fisher performs her tell-all on-stage memoir as the first offering of
Arena at the Lincoln Theatre on U Street NW which will be an additional
venue during the construction of the expanded facility in SW.
October 8 - 26, 2008
Citizen Josh
Josh Kornbluth performs his riff on the role of the voter in the American
body politic.
November 21, 2008 - January 18, 2009
Next to
Normal
A new musical by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey will be directed by Michael
Grief. It tells the story of parents who struggle to raise a normal family
in these distinctly abnormal times.
January 30 - February 15, 2009
Irving
Berlin's I Love A Piano
The second offering of Arena at the Lincoln Theatre on U Street NW will be
this revue of Berlin's legendary output over more than half a century of
American history.
February 6 - March 15, 2009
A Delicate
Balance
Edward Albee's drama of family rivalries will feature performances by
Kathleen Chalfant, Jayne Houdyshell and Ellen McLaughlin.
March 27 - April 26, 2009
Crowns
Arena brings back the musical with "hattitude." This time the performances
will be at the Lincoln Theatre on U Street NW.
March 31 - April 12, 2009
A Long and
Winding Road
Maureen McGovern performs her cabaret set drawn from the songbooks of The
Beatles, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel and other contributors to the sound
of the second half of the twentieth century.
May 8 - June 14, 2009
Legacy of
Light
Molly Smith will direct the world premiere of Karen Zacariás’ time travel
tale of the conflict between maternal instincts and intellectual challenge.
May 28 - June 27, 2009
Sweet Bird of
Youth
Tazewell Thompson directs Tennessee Williams' drama of the power of
celebrity and desire set along the Gulf Coast. |
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