The character Gregory Solomon (Dominic Chianese of “Sopranos” fame) is not the protagonist of Arthur Miller’s “The Price,” but he may as well be. This is the character that has stolen both show and audience hearts since the play’s Broadway premiere. A used furniture dealer approaching 90, Solomon is invited to pay a price for all the goods in the attic of a Manhattan brownstone. Formerly the home of the Franz family, but not occupied by them for many years, the brownstone is scheduled for demolition. When the play opens, Victor Franz (Andy Prosky), for 28 years a New York cop, enters the room he inhabited with his father following the 1929 stock market crash that left the widowed, formerly successful older man ruined and depressed and unable to stir from his chair. Victor’s brother, Walter (James Sutorius, remembered from “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” and “Lincolnesque”), who deserted the family and sent home $5 a week to help out, has become a wealthy surgeon. Victor has called Walter’s medical office repeatedly to ask him if he wants any of the goods. They have not seen one another since their father died 16 years earlier. Victor’s unhappy wife Esther (newcomer Leisa Mather) is the fourth character. She’s at wit’s end with Victor, who is about to retire from the force and seems unable to make plans for future employment that might bring her all the things she wants. Victor, who once held great promise as a scientist, quit college to care for the elder Franz. He blames his situation on Walter, so much so that we expect an entirely different character than the Walter we meet, who seems sincere and genuinely eager to make amends for all the lost years. Solomon, too, has his secrets, and he is perhaps the most needy and damaged of all the characters, which we are not fully aware of until the others, having argued and harangued for two hours, have departed. The play is all about the price we pay for what we want. Richard Seer directs. “The Price” continues through June 14 at the Old Globe’s temporary space at San Diego Museum of Art, www.theoldglobe.org or (619) 23-GLOBE.
