‘ALL MY SONS’: Tracy Letts & Annette Bening. Photo: Joan Marcus

ALL MY SONS
By Arthur Miller
Directed by Jack O’Brien
Through June 23, 2019
American Airlines Theatre
227 W. 42nd Street
(212-719-1300), www.roundabouttheatre.org

By Scott Harrah

Arthur Miller’s All My Sons is not as renowned as some of his other plays, but it is indeed one of his greatest. The tragic epic, originally produced in 1947, right after World War II, has volumes to say about war and people who profit from it, making Sons rather timely as we now live in a world where dictators are on the rise and populism and political divisiveness threaten to tear apart the U.S. and Europe. All My Sons was last mounted on Broadway back in 2008 in a production that starred John Lithgow, Diane Wiest, Patrick Wilson and Katie Holmes. Eleven years ago, the show seemed dated and mostly a vehicle for the all-star cast, but the drama is much more relevant in 2019 in this age of political chaos and instability.

Arthur Miller’s moralistic saga focuses on the emotionally fragile family of Joe Keller (Tracy Letts), owner of a factory that made defective parts for warplanes and sold them to the U.S. Air Force, resulting in crashes and the deaths of 21 servicemen.  Joe’s wife, Kate (Annette Bening), is a woman in complete denial, convinced that her soldier son Larry, missing in action for over three years, is still alive.  Son Chris (Benjamin Walker) spends a good portion of the first act trying to convince his parents that marrying girlfriend Ann Deever (Francesca Carpanini) is the right thing to do, and things really unravel when she suddenly arrives in town after being in New York for several years.  The mother is completely against her son marrying Ann because she was Larry’s fiancé.  Ann is also the daughter of Joe’s business partner, a man serving time in prison allegedly for the crimes involved with the Keller’s business.

Tracy Letts and Benjamin Walker have superb onstage chemistry as father and son.  One of their last scenes—an argument that gets brutally physical—is especially effective and riveting. Mr. Letts is brilliant as the stubborn father, and Mr. Walker is marvelous as his aggressive, caustic son.  Annette Bening is first rate and really looks and sounds like the Midwestern mother she’s portraying—screaming, crying and emoting in all the right places, in an authentic Middle American twang. She definitely delivers as the high-strung mother who refuses to accept reality, despite the fact that her family is deeply wounded and has completely fallen apart. Ms. Bening is primarily known for her Hollywood films and was last seen on Broadway in Coastal Disturbances in 1987. She proves she is a great stage actress here, with an imposing command of the stage.

Francesca Carpanini is perfect and peerless as Ann. She gives a scorching portrayal of Ann as a shrewd, quick-witted woman who has endured years of suffering during and after the war.

Douglas W. Schmidt’s set, featuring an old house and its yard, anchors the story well and is a big improvement over the minimalistic set in the 2008 production. In that revival, there were too many projections and video montages. Director Joe O’Brien keeps things straightforward here, with a simple black and white video projection of war planes preceding the first act. Mr. O’Brien keeps the focus on the story. Although not all cast members are up to the par of the task at hand, Mr. O’Brien gets superlative performances from the actors playing the lead roles.

All My Sons, with its ongoing themes about greed and the ugliness of war, is still topical today. Its story about the ethics of selling faulty airplane equipment is especially germane in 2019, considering all the news about Boeing, defective 737 Max jets and crashes. After the final curtain falls, All My Sons gets audiences thinking about the long-term impact of war on families, making it an unforgettable, important evening of theater.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 25, 2019
Reviewed at April 24, 2019 press performance.

‘ALL MY SONS’: Tracy Letts & Benjamin Walker. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘ALL MY SONS’: Tracy Letts, Benjamin Walker & Annette Bening. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘ALL MY SONS’: (left to right) Benjamin Walker, Hampton Fluker, Francesca Carpanini & Chinasu Ogbaugu. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘ALL MY SONS’: Hamilton Fluker, Benjamin Walker & Francesca Carpanini. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘ALL MY SONS’: Annette Bening. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘ALL MY SONS’: Tracy Letts & Annette Bening. Photo: Joan Marcus

The post ‘All My Sons’: Fine reboot of Miller’s classic appeared first on StageZine.

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Laura Linney & Darren Goldstein. Photo: Joan Marcus

THE LITTLE FOXES
Written by Lillian Hellman
Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Through July 2, 2017
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
(212-239-6200),www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com

By Scott Harrah

Greed is the primary deadly sin among the many that run rampant in Manhattan Theatre Club’s brilliant revival of Lillian Hellman’s most enduring play The Little Foxes. There is jasmine in the air, mint in the juleps and backstabbing at every turn in this tale of the Deep South. Cotton is king and the family plays each other as pawns to get the biggest share from the ill-gotten gains.

The Little Foxes is Ms. Hellman’s most accessible drama because it is so intricately constructed, timeless, and a classic. The show was first produced on Broadway in 1939 with Tallulah Bankhead, and has featured everyone from Elizabeth Taylor and Anne Bancroft to Stockard Channing over the years. This outstanding revival showcases Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon, alternating the roles of Regina Giddens and Birdie Hubbard with the “blue” cast (Ms. Linney as Regina) and “green” cast (Ms. Nixon as Regina). It’s a winning gimmick indeed (this review is of a performance with Ms. Linney as Regina and Ms. Nixon as Birdie), but the true beauty of the show is how Ms. Hellman’s story holds up nearly 80 years after it was first mounted. Greed and family dysfunction have not changed much since 1900 Alabama (when the play is set).

This Southern Gothic tale is set in a small Alabama town, centering on the struggle for controlling a family business. Regina Hubbard is a formidable villainess, a woman wanting to gain financial control of her life because her ailing husband Horace (Richard Thomas) is in a Baltimore hospital with a heart condition and she must rely on him for money. Meanwhile, her brothers Oscar (Darren Goldstein) and Ben (Michael McKean) live well off the inheritance from their father and his profitable plantation and cotton fields, with money made off the backs of low-paid African-American workers.

The brothers want to build a new cotton mill and they ask Regina for money (an additional $75,000), but she has to get the funds from her sick husband Horace. The three-act drama has a riveting narrative filled with family machinations as we see the lengths the family goes to due to their avarice, including suggesting a marriage between first cousins Leo (Michael Benz) and Alexandra (Francesca Carpanini).

Birdie Hubbard (a role alternated in this production by Ms. Linney and Ms. Nixon) is the alcoholic wife of Oscar. She’s a delicate flower indeed, physically abused by her husband, dependent on his wealth, with a penchant for elderberry wine and clinging to the fading gentility of the old South. In the “blue” cast, Ms. Nixon’s portrayal of Birdie is haunting and heartbreaking.

The show is flawlessly directed, designed and acted. Laura Linney as Regina is evil incarnate, and Cynthia as Birdie Huddard, Regina’s sister-in-law, is the charm that was the South. The production is ably supported by Michael McKean and Darren Goldstein as Regina’s conniving brothers. Richard Thomas as her husband Horace is simply wonderful. Caroline Stefanie Clay as maid Addie, and Francesca Carpanini, as Alexandra, are also noteworthy. This is a play that resonates today as it did in 1939 when it was first presented. The Little Foxes, directed by Daniel Sullivan, is one of the year’s best revivals.

Edited by David NouNou
Published April 24, 2017
Reviewed at press performance on April 23, 2017

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: (left to right) Francesca Carpanini as Alexandra & Laura Linney as Regina. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Laura Linney as Regina. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Cynthia Nixon as Birdie & Francesca Carpanini as Alexandra. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Darren Goldstein & Michael Benz. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Richard Thomas & Caroline Stephanie Clay. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Michael McKean. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’: Darren Goldstein. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE LITTLE FOXES’ (Green Company): Cynthia Nixon as Regina & Laura Linney as Birdie. The two actresses alternate the roles at certain performances. Photo: Joan Marcus

The post ‘The Little Foxes’: Linney & Nixon in brilliant revival appeared first on StageZine.