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One-act
version of 'Bridge' proves powerful
By Kerry Reid | Special to the Tribune
October 17, 2007
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Sexual jealousy and vengeance
against those who challenge convention are the girders holding up
Arthur Miller's "A View From the Bridge" — elements that also
characterize "The Crucible." But while the latter combined historic
epic with McCarthy-era hysteria, the playwright's 1955 play is a
tightly coiled fist of working-class domestic tragedy, rendered in
barely discernible verse.
Actors Workshop Theatre goes back to the original one-act version of
Miller's play for this revival. After a lukewarm reception in New York,
the original was expanded by the playwright into the longer two-act
version commonly produced since. The earlier script is a good choice,
and not just for novelty. The events that destroy Eddie Carbone, the
stolid longshoreman with unspoken desires for Catherine, his
niece-by-marriage, unfold so rapidly that no one, least of all Eddie,
has time to stop and think about what's actually happening, and why.
Eddie opens his home to two "submarines," or illegal Italian immigrants
who are cousins of his wife, Beatrice.
When it becomes clear that Catherine has fallen hard for the charming
younger brother, Rodolpho, Eddie's own subterranean lust for the
teenager causes him to violate the strict notions of honor that rule
the docks.
For most of the play, the outside community is hinted at, rather than
seen, and most of the action takes place in the cramped Carbone living
room. But when Eddie destroys the sanctuary of his own home, the story
spills out into the audience in the wonderfully intimate AWT space.
Co-directors Michael
Colucci and E Malcolm Martinez unspool the action at a precise pace
without self-conscious calculation.
Colucci delivers a
beautifully lived-in performance as Eddie, moving from gruff Archie
Bunker-esque exasperation to the desperation of a man who knows that
his desires are wrong, but is unable to extinguish them without
bringing down everyone around him.
In the thankless
role of Beatrice, Jan Ellen Graves captures the sorrow of a woman who
has tied herself to a man she knows cannot fully love her, and Eva Gil
brings naive charm and unexpected spine to Catherine.
This largely admirable production balances the story's gritty sorrow
and flashes of wit, and captures the inchoate rage and longing that
drive men to betrayal.
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RECOMMENDED
View is a Powerful Drama
By Randy
Hardwick, ChicagoCritic.com
Date Reviewed:
October 13, 2007
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Directors Michael Colucci and E.
Malcolm Martinez have collaborated to create a production of Arthur
Miller’s masterpiece, A View from
the Bridge, that is captivating and one which will thrill Miller
fans. The drama is intense and the action shockingly real in the
intimate setting at Actors Workshop Theatre. The directors have chosen
to present the original version of the play from the 50’s, a risky move
considering that it was perhaps Miller’s greatest flop at the time, but
after seeing this
production in this setting, I cannot imagine seeing it any other way.
Miller thought the original View one of his best plays and in Colucci’s
and Martinez’s hands, it truly is.
The show tells a tale of two Italian “submarines” (illegal aliens) who
come to New York in the 1950’s to work. They live in close quarters
with the family of a distant cousin (Jan Ellen Graves) in the Red Hook
section of Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Bridge and the New York skyline are
easily seen, but their lives are lived in the shadow of another place
and other times. Alfieri (Sam Perry), the neighborhood attorney,
recounts the tale in inimitable Arthur Miller dramatic style, giving
the production a certain film noir feel. There is pride, passion, love,
hatred, scandal, and finally murder. Colucci, in addition
to directing, delivers a standout performance as the husband of
the New York cousin of immigrants Marco (Johnny Garcia) and Rodolpho
(Andrew Jessop).
Anders Jacobson’s
set, with the New York skyline in the background becomes a piece of art
under the subtle lighting design of John Kohn III. The technical
execution of this show is outstanding as it shifts focus from
narrator to players, at times freezing the actors in breathtaking
portraits. Colucci and Martinez have the actors in such perfect pose
that at times I felt like I was in a museum looking at a master
painting. The actors are not uniformly even throughout the play and
they could use a bit more work on the dialect – I was not entirely sure
where they were from, though I was positive they weren’t all from the
same place – but overall the non-Equity cast delivers a solid effort
with a final scene that is likely to give you gooseflesh. Colucci, Garcia, and
Perry are powerful in their roles and Orion Couling’s fight
choreography gives the show some real punch. A View from the Bridge is a moving
drama that kept me on the edge of my seat, a marvelous show.
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A rarity worth reviving
By Lawrence Bommer, Chicago Reader
Date Reviewed:
October 12, 2007
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A rarity worth reviving, Arthur
Miller's original 90-minute Broadway version of this domestic tragedy
focuses more on the family than the neighborhood and shortchanges
Beatrice's anguish over her husband Eddie's self-destructive passion
for his niece. But all the strengths of
the later, longer version are here: compassion for the characters, a
plot that's relentless and timeless, and the conviction that all sins
are social. Sam Perry turns the lawyer Alfieri, our worldly-wise
narrator, into a moral anchor amid the soap opera striving. This
staging, by E. Malcolm Martinez and Michael Colucci (who also plays an
implacably self-ignorant Eddie), fills the small stage with a
convincing cross section of Brooklyn circa 1955.
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Miller's
original 'Bridge' gets solid revival
By Jeff Pizek and Barbara Vitello | Daily Herald
Staff
Published: 10/19/2007
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Actors Workshop Theatre could have
followed tradition and staged the familiar, two-act version of "A View
From the Bridge," Arthur Miller's lean, urban tragedy about desire,
loyalty, betrayal, revenge and the conflict between old ways and new.
Instead the plucky Chicago company plucked from obscurity Miller's
original one-act. The show sputtered upon its 1955 Broadway premiere,
prompting a reworking. But Michael Colucci and E. Malcolm Martinez's
tense, stripped-down revival, which unfolds over a quick 80 minutes in
AWT's tiny Edgewater home, reveals this under-appreciated work for the
gem it is.
"View" plays out in a Brooklyn tenement among second-generation
Italians and their immigrant cousins. Neighborhood lawyer Alfieri (Sam
Perry) narrates the story of longshoreman Eddie Carbone (an
articulate, forceful Michael Colucci); his wife Beatrice (Jan Ellen
Graves, whose seamless performances brings depth to an underwritten
part); and her niece Catherine (Eva Gil), for whom Eddie's
feelings go beyond paternal. The arrival of Beatrice's illegal
immigrant cousins -- Marco (Johnny Garcia) and Rodolpho (an engaging
Andrew Jessop) -- and the subsequent romance between Catherine and
Rodolpho upset the family balance, leading to a shocking betrayal and a
violent conclusion.
Colucci (whose
performance recalls "NYPD Blues" character Andy Sipowicz) is especially
effective. Eliciting both our pity and contempt, he manages to sustain
our allegiance even as he forces us to condemn his behavior. He and
Graves are terrific.
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Recommended
by Dennis Polkow, New City
Date Reviewed:
October 18, 2007
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When Arthur Miller’s "A View from the Bridge" first
opened on Broadway in 1955, it was not a success. The playwright
withdrew the work, save for a British revival, thinking he needed to
rework it, and it is that version that we know as the play. Actors
Workshop Theatre has made the bold move to present the original 1955
version, which given Miller’s minimalist set requirements where all of
the action takes place in a Brooklyn apartment, is perfectly suited for
the group’s small venue space. Eddie is also a much less
sympathetic character here, given that Miller later added exposition
and domestic material that ambiguously suggests the possibility that
his niece Catherine (Eva Gil) was innocently leading on her uncle with
her girlish over-affections. But one aspect of the more streamlined
original that was lost along the way that is far more effective here is
the way in which the tension builds up across a single, virtually
verismo-like act instead of being broken up. And the play’s heart--its
questions about lust and loyalty, honor and manhood and filial piety
run amuck, to say nothing about illegal immigration and its ongoing
resonance more than half a century later--remains strongly intact.
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TheatreWorld
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...wonderful performances...
90 minutes of all-engrossing drama
by Ruth Smerling, TheatreWorld
Date Reviewed:
October 12, 2007
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ACTORS WORKSHOP TAKES A LONG LOOK AT
LIFE ON THE DOCKS IN A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
Michael Colucci and Malcolm Martinez team to direct Arthur Miller’s
searing A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE at the Actors Workshop Theatre. Michael stars as Eddie Carbone, a role that
fits him like a glove.
The lights come up slowly as the room is filled with the glory of
operatic music. On the stage the skyline of New York City at night is
illuminated in dark blue. It’s mesmerizing. A man walks onstage,
looking suspiciously, to blurry eyes, like Rudy Guiliani. Actually it’s
Sam Perry as Mr. Alfieri, an attorney who lives in Brooklyn. He’s
worked with the immigrants and dockworkers that populate this area for
many years. He has a story to tell and remains perched in front of the
action throughout the performance as the lights come up on the Carbones.
Eddie (Michael Colucci) is a longshoreman who has worked hard all his
life. Michael Colucci very meticulously constructs a man weighted by
exhaustion and anxiety, praying for a little bit of peace and quiet. He
lives a hard life, but he has a good family that he loves. His wife
Beatrice played by Colucci’s real life wife, Jan Ellen Graves, is his
rock. They have a marriage sealed with cement, two children who remain
off stage and they raise their orphaned niece Catherine (Eva Gil), a
young woman who is sure to break a lot of hearts. Eva Gil knows just
when to sniffle and shed a tear as the young woman, old enough to make
up her own mind, but not wanting to hurt the people she cares about.
They have agreed to welcome a cousin of Beatrice, Marco (Johnny Garcia)
and his brother, Rudolpho (Andrew Jessop). Eddie has no problem setting
a few more places at the table, but these two men could be dangerous,
they’re illegal Italian immigrants. They’ve stowed away to America to
try to make enough money to feed their starving families. Italy is
beautiful, but only for the wealthy, with no jobs and no pity for the
poor.
Everything is fine until Rudolpho and Catherine start to spend time
together. Eddie, jealous and irrational, cannot let her go. He notices
that Rudolpho can cook, sew and sing in a voice high above tenor. He
visits Mr. Alfieri to see if there’s some way he can legally bar
Rudolpho “who just ain’t right,” from seeing his beloved niece. Alfieri
tells him there’s nothing short of turning him into immigration. Eddie
is angry enough to do it, but the consequences – leaving him a pariah
in the neighborhood may be too great.
A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, like Miller’s Pulitzer Prize winning work, THE
CRUCIBLE (now playing at the Steppenwolf Theatre), is often discussed
as a reaction to McCarthyism that swept the nation in the 1950’s, a
time when playwright Arthur Miller was asked to inform on fellow
artists who were suspected members of the Communist party. Eddie’s
behavior is irrational. To keep what little he has, he finds himself
faced with the dilemma of destroying other lives, just like the
confessions McCarthy forced out of terrified people who believed some
horrible consequence faced them if they did not comply. The question of
what is right and wrong is always balanced on the scale held by Dr.
Alfieri.
A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE with beautiful costuming
by Carrie Hardin, an unintrusive but unforgettable set by Anders
Jacobsen and wonderful performances is 90 minutes of all-engrossing
drama.
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