![]() ![]() ![]() (There are even one or two moments when Willy’s blowhard sallies are reminiscent of Ralph Kramden’s outbursts at Alice. It can be said, however, that since Dennehy is presumably playing to an auditorium audience, some of Browning’s close-ups are a bit much. His quiet moments are only distractions from unpredictable outbursts. He roams a range from invincible confidence to punishing ignominy. The same goes for Richard Thompson’s Bernard.ĭennehy reigns over it all. There, Steve Pickering, on his acting toes, proves there are no small parts. Yet, Browning’s attention also includes the brief scene in which Willy goes hat-in-hand (Dennehy wears no hat) to Howard, the son of his boss. Eldard’s face as he grapples with his inability to revisit his days as an adored football hero is alive with doubt and recriminations. That she is always honed in on Willy’s planning to take his life is brought out with heart-breaking effect. Chief among them are Franz’s frequently quivering mouth. Emotions playing across an actor’s face are constantly examined. To a great extent, Falls’ intentions are magnified by Browning’s determined close-ups. The playwright’s eavesdropping on brothers Biff and Happy in the early bedroom scene and the somewhat later sequence in which Linda chastises her sons over their disdain of Willy-“Attention must be paid,” she memorably exclaims-are only the beginning of Falls’ profound understanding of Miller’s text and subtext. That’s as experienced by wife Linda (Elizabeth Franz), sons Biff (Ron Eldard) and Happy (Ted Koch) as well as next door neighbors Charley (Howard Witt), his son Bernard (Richard Thompson), Willy’s ghostly older brother Ben (Allen Hamilton), and others.ĭirector Falls, flawless in his instincts, repeatedly gives us definitive Miller. The playwright’s scrutiny of the sad, suicidal Willy Loman (Brian Dennehy) story still comes across the screen footlights as most likely timeless. That’s the case with this Death of a Salesman, which includes some of the best interpretations of Miller’s great work that have ever evanesced on a stage. Often cameras are not placed only at the back of the auditorium but also move in much farther in for unabashed close-ups. They are not always straightforward recordings of productions. The development is indisputably welcome, although the point must be made that the entries aren’t necessarily strict representations of the conventional theater-going experience. ![]() The palpable memories of what has been excellent in the past are oases for already convinced theater lovers as well as susceptible newcomers. This is another example of how theater people are increasingly bringing valuable goods to audiences denied traditional access by the cruel pandemic. Now the Goodman, in collaboration with Playbill, is streaming that turn-of-the-century take. ![]() The production transferred to Broadway in 1999 and was subsequently filmed for four 2001 Showtime airings, as brought to the home screen by Kirk Browning. This was in recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the tragedy’s opening. In 1998 Robert Falls directed a powerful, physically-emotive revival for Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Take Arthur Miller’s iconic Death of a Salesman, for example. Brian Dennehy and Elizabeth Franz in Death of a Salesman. ![]()
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