Willy and Biff Loman are the most well-known characters in American theatre. It’s a bold claim I know, but seeing as how they are the central characters in a play that is perhaps the most quintessentially American play in history, I think it’s a claim easily supported.
On Friday the Dallas Theater Center opened with what was their first staging of Arthur Miller’s iconic play, “Death of a Salesman.”
It is surprising that this is the DTC’s first foray into the world of Willy and Biff, but it was well worth the wait.
Director Amanda Dehnert sought celebrity for this production and brought in legendary stage and screen actor Jeffrey DeMunn, well-known for recurring roles in most incarnations of Law and Order, to play the iconic Willy.
The other main characters are composed of local talents, Sally Nystuen Vahle as Linda, Matthew Gray as Biff and Cedric Neal as Happy.
The staging is sparse, which seems fitting for a play that is entirely character driven.
Grey as Biff seems more of a caricature than a character, slightly disappointing, but Vahle as the ever loyal Linda gives a performance full of emotion.
The real star however, is undoubtedly DeMunn. He portrays all the denial, sorrow and unrealistic hope of Willy with a particular poignancy.
For those who aren’t familiar with the play, “Death of a Salesman” is the story of a family plagued by expectations and betrayal. It is a play about the American Dream, its hopes and its poisons.
When Biff, the wayward son who hasn’t held a steady job in all of his 34 years returns home for a visit, he finds his father has steadily regressed into half the man he was.
We are led to believe the animosity the father and son feel for each other sprung from an ill-fated encounter in a seedy hotel room almost 20 years prior, but the disdain with which Biff views his father, and the unfulfilled expectations Willy has for his son, are the results of much more.
The play consists of two and a half hours of gut-wrenching scenes of family strife, and while the characters may not be perfect in this production, they manage to convey the sense of betrayal, broken expectations and quest for acceptance with passion and heart.
The play runs through May 16 at the Wyly Theatre, part of the AT&T Performing Arts Center and student tickets are $15 at the door.
