With Kevin Anderson as Willy's derailed son Biff, these Lomans are a lot more Irish than Miller's Brooklyn Jews. But second-generation immigrant disillusionment knows no limits, and Dennehy, who towers over everyone onstage, seems to be looking over people's heads at something that transcends the neighborhood. His gaze often has the faraway, knowing vitality of a lifelong blind man. A big man, he takes a big fall. The 1949 Pulitzer Prize-winner remains one of America's few truly great dramas, one that challenges middle American values without losing the very people it is shredding.
Every sentence reveals character.
Each action demands reaction. Despite a few clunky redundancies and few surprises, the work still challenges our values with rare compassion. Yet it's also rich with human peculiarities. Willy's not just some good guy the system squashed. He's a hypocrite, a climber, a dreamer with the wrong dreams.