Susan Granger reviews “All My Sons” (Gerald Schoenfeld Theater’08-’09 season)
It’s hard to imagine a time and place where Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” – about selfishness, greed and morality – would be more profoundly moving and relevant than the present. Inspired by a true story about a successful businessman who knowingly defective airplane parts to the government during World War II, resulting in the deaths of 21 American flyers, it’s a classic Greek tragedy – and is treated as such in British director Simon McBurney’s stunning revival.
Set in a backyard somewhere in the Midwest, it begins as prosperous Joe Keller (John Lithgow) and his wife Kate (Dianne Wiest) uneasily prepare to welcome back Joe’s incarcerated partner’s daughter, Ann Deever (Katie Holmes), who grew up next-door and was engaged to their older son, Larry, who has been MIA for three years. Now she’s being courted by their younger son, Chris (Patrick Wilson) – at least until her volatile lawyer/brother George (Christian Camargo) barges in with unwelcome truths.
For today’s cinematically-oriented audience, McBurney includes Finn Ross’ unconventional yet surprisingly effective newsreel clips and multi-dimensional projections, sometimes unobtrusively relegating peripheral actors to chairs visible in the background and moving scenery on Tom Pye’s minimalist set. This effectively stylish, ominous atmosphere is emphasized by Paul Anderson’s lighting, along with Christopher Shutt and Carolyn Dowling’s underscoring.
Wrestling with guilt, John Lithgow delivers a heartbreaking performance, attempting to deny and then to justify his duplicitous behavior, while Dianne Wiest’s stalwart maternal fortitude disguises her grief. Patrick Wilson exudes wholesome principles and Katie Holmes’ exuberance is tempered with suspicion.
This is the first Broadway revival of an Arthur Miller play since his death in 2005 – and has the blessing of his daughter, film-maker Rebecca Miller who is married to Daniel Day-Lewis. And the 1948 film adaptation, starring Edward G. Robinson and Burt Lancaster, is available on video and dvd.