[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Panic Productions production of Arthur Miller’s Death of A Salesman directed by Mark Blanchard at The Colony Theatre January 16 – 26.
Death of A Salesman is one of the most successful modern American plays and it is certainly one of the most well known. Arthur Miller was inspired to write it after a chance meeting with his uncle Manny, a salesman, in a theatre in Boston that was playing All My Sons. Manny and his worn-out visage caught Miller’s imagination and the heartbreaking story of a long, sad decline was born.
I’ve seen productions before of this timeless story. All good, all true to the essence of this all-American dream. But I have to say that this production took the characters somewhere far beyond what I have seen before. The sons, Biff and Happy, played wonderfully by Cronin Cullen and Robert Smythe, they made these young men vividly real. Lost and confused by what the world expected from them, always trying to live up to Willy’s warped and treacherous expectations of success and what it means to be a man in a country so bent on everyone’s exploitation. I have a son and I could see him in their eyes as they wrestled with their choices and their untethering.
Willy, played beautifully by Joe Cortese, is already a phantom. A ghost of what he once believed he was as if he was already long gone and just needed to be convinced of it. Abstract, confused, broken. His long-suffering wife, Linda, is equally trapped by a story sold to her of who she was and how her life was to be and is utterly brilliantly played by Francis Fisher with something drifting darkly behind her eyes. She is always making do, with Willy, with her sons, with her stockings. Belligerently hopeful and in the end cold as stone because of it.
Everyone in this magical cast is absolutely wonderful. The fine actors that play the roles outside of the family take their roles and turn them with a kind of edgy, playfulness that makes it seem as if they are all in on a joke that Willy and his family are not. It gives them a kind of wickedness that stays with you, while the family falls apart alongside Willy’s mind.
It’s a really excellent production of a play that no matter how many times you see it, holds you fast. Now more than ever this story is important, vital even for us all to understand. A man can work his whole life for someone else, to pay for things he never truly owns in a world that will forget him entirely. And this is something to aspire to, we are told over and over and over again as we are ground to dust.
What makes this play not the most depressing story ever told is that as Willy’s life unfurls, the boys find their truth and Linda finds her freedom. At least we hope they do, as the curtain falls. We hope we all do.
I highly recommend Death of a Salesman at The Colony Theatre. They had to cancel opening weekend due to the fires, so there is only this week to see their excellent version of Miller’s genius. Take advantage of this incredible cast and see this play!
When:
January 16 – 26
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm
Matinees: Saturday, January 25 at 3:00pm and Sunday, January 26 at 3:30pm.
All proceeds from Saturday, January 25 will go to The Humane Society of Pasadena, The LA Dream Center and the LA Fire Department Foundation.
Tickets will be FREE for LA Fire Fighters and First Responders. (Using Promo Code: LAFF).
Where:
The Colony Theatre
555 S 3rd St, Burbank
Tickets:
https://www.onstage411.com/newsite/show/play_info.asp?show_id=7174
THE CAST
Joe Cortese* as “Willy Loman”
Frances Fisher* as “Linda Loman”
Cronin Cullen as “Biff Loman”
Robert Smythe as “Happy Loman”
Paul Ganus as “Uncle Ben”
Brian Guest as “Bernard / Stanley”
Gary Hudson as “Charlie”
Jennifer Olsberg as “Letta / The Woman / Jenny”
Michelle Jasso* as “Miss Forsythe”
Chris Ufland as “Howard Wagner”
THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Mark Blanchard – Director
Paul Panico / Panic! Productions – Producer
Kaz Osborne* – Stage Manager
Asa Fris – Assistant Stage Manager
Fritz Davis – Video Projection Design
Justin Huen* – Lighting and Set Design
Robert Arturo Ramirez – Co-Sound Design
Christian Gama Franco – Co-Sound Design
Vicki Conrad – Costume Designer
Kiff Scholl, AFK Design – Graphic Design
Sandra Kuker-Franco – Publicity and Marketing – SANDRA KUKER PR
Mia Christou / Visible Ink, INC. – Social Media Manager
Amayaha Watson – 2nd Assistant to Stage Manager
Jack Eaton – Assistant to Lighting Designer
Guillermo Serrano – Assistant to Set Designer
Herbert Villalta – Assistant to Set Designer
Ella Schedin – Sound Board Operator