Sunday, March 11, 2001
The show is a deeply disturbing, tense drama, full of psychological shadows.
By GARRY L. CLARK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
NILES -- Life wasn't supposed to be like this. Not for him. He was Willie Loman, the best salesman at his company. And life was supposed to be better than this. A lot better. But, as the title suggests, Trumbull New Theatre's production of the Pulitzer prize-winning "Death of a Salesman" which opened Friday, life wasn't what he expected.
Maybe he expected too much. After all, he was Willie Loman, a great salesman. But maybe it was and he just didn't know it.
He'd expected to be a great success -- you know -- the Great American Dream and all that because he was Willie Loman, a fair salesman. He had a decent house, an old car that ran, a loving wife and two strapping, handsome sons. But there should be more.
He was Willie Loman, a salesman. He should have been doing better. Not struggling to make ends meet. Not feeling the accelerating vortex of the death spiral his career had become.
Maybe he should have taken advantage of the opportunity to leave New York City years before. Things would have been different if he'd just taken the chance. Maybe.
It was baffling, and in the end, his quest for more kept him unaware of the love and caring that had always been his for the taking.
Cast: Jim Penn gave a superb performance as the bewildered, aging, embittered salesman. His halting delivery as Willie struggles to make sense of his life playing endless "if only" scenarios with the past, was both poignant and unsettling.
Carole Abell in the role of Willie's wife, Linda, was in excellent form as well, giving her character a perfect standing-by-her-man quality typical of the postwar era. She truly, deeply and protectively loves Willie for who he is, not who he wishes he was.
Portraying the Loman sons were Nicholas Cordova as Hap, and John Cox as Biff. Hap is a carefree philanderer who dreams big dreams just like his father and is always just around the corner from his big break in business. Cordova did a fine job as the son who's trying to hold his family together in the face of his father's failing mental state.
Biff is desperately seeking a deeper awareness of himself, but is frequently unable to as Willie's influence and big talk about grand things alternately seduces and repulses him. Cox was called upon to express a wide range of gut-wrenching emotions and was more than equal to his task.
Other roles: Providing solid support in the other roles were Tom Bucco as Bernard, Emily Webster Lowe as The Woman, Jeff Smith as Charley, Ray Hughes as Uncle Benn, Chris Shively as Howard Wagner, Anita Phillibin as Jenny, Tom Watson as Stanley, Patty Jefferson Niessner as Miss Forsythe and Andrea Thompson as Letta.
Jim LaPolla has perfectly cast this drama, and his fluid direction keeps the pace moving.
"Death of a Salesman" is a deeply disturbing, tense drama, full of psychological shadows that most of us cringe away from, but those very factors work to make it a gratifying and thought provoking play.