{"id":244168,"date":"2011-02-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-04T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/old-globe-review-death-of-salesman\/"},"modified":"2011-02-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-02-04T08:00:00","slug":"old-globe-review-death-of-salesman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/old-globe-review-death-of-salesman\/","title":{"rendered":"Old Globe Review: ‘Death of Salesman’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Patricia Morris Buckley\u00a0 | SDUN Theatre Critic<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Old<\/a>
(l to r) Jonathan Spivey as Howard Wagner and Jeffrey DeMunn as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's \u201cDeath of a Salesman,\u201d directed by Pam MacKinnon at The Old Globe, now through Feb. 27. (Photo by Henry DiRocco)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cDeath of a Salesman\u201d is one of those plays that was revolutionary when it premiered, hence the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for playwright Arthur Miller, but over time has turned into one of those dramas we attend because it\u2019s supposed to be good for our theatrical diets.<\/p>\n

While the Old Globe Theatre\u2019s production is certainly the caliber you\u2019d expect of San Diego\u2019s premiere theater, it has several major hurdles it attempts to overcome, yet it barely clears.<\/p>\n

There is one exception and that\u2019s the powerhouse performance of Jeffrey DeMunn as disenchanted salesman Willy Loman. Audiences may not know his name as well as his face. DeMunn has been in hundreds of movies (\u201cThe Green Mile,\u201d \u201cShawshank Redemption, \u201cBurn After Reading\u201d), TV shows (he currently stars as Dale in \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d) and on Broadway, where he\u2019s been nominated for a Tony.<\/p>\n

DeMunn moves with amazing fluidity from a timid young buck to a disillusioned head of family to a 63-year-old who has lost his grip on reality. He always feels true to the role, so much so that he slips inside it in an expertly skilled manner that suggests theatrical camouflage.<\/p>\n

And while the rest of the cast in fine, they just don\u2019t come up to DeMunn\u2019s level. While the play is supposed to be about Willy and his personal struggles with expectations vs. reality, his family is a large part of his world. The role of Biff, Willy\u2019s oldest son and greatest failure, is a classic theater character. Lucas Caleb Moseley is more convincing as the older Biff than the younger boy, yet lacks the naturalness of DeMunn\u2019s performance. Only John Procaccino in the small role of Charley does that.<\/p>\n

Think of it this way: DeMunn\u2019s performance is that of a diamond. Normally, directors surround a diamond with other precious gems, not pearls or turquoise. These stones are beautiful, but they don\u2019t sparkle like a diamond.<\/p>\n

The show also starts with a huge misstep. This is not a play that works in the round. Set designer Marion Williams does her best to create the illusion of multi-levels and spaces with different uses (and the audience gasps when the whole set moves at the top of the show). But the blocking never feels natural or smooth on the cramped and awkward set.<\/p>\n

Add to that a script that really needs to be trimmed. This production runs close to three hours. That\u2019s three hours about a loser of a man who, after buying into the notion of the post World War II American dream, has built up so much self-deception about himself and his family that he cripples his sons in the process. Sure, this length is typical of a play written in the \u201840s, but is difficult to sit through today, especially as there is little humor in the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeath of a Salesman\u201d is a classic and this production boasts a powerful and memorable performance by DeMunn. But as far as diets go, it\u2019s a little too healthy to be thoroughly enjoyable.<\/p>\n

When: Through Feb. 27<\/p>\n

Where: Old Globe Theatre, Balboa Park<\/p>\n

Tickets: $29-$67<\/p>\n

Info: (619) 23-GLOBE<\/p>\n

Web: theoldglobe.org<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patricia Morris Buckley\u00a0 | SDUN Theatre Critic \u201cDeath of a Salesman\u201d is one of those plays that was revolutionary when it premiered, hence the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for playwright Arthur Miller, but over time has turned into one of those dramas we attend because it\u2019s supposed to be good for our theatrical diets. […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1295,"featured_media":244169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Old Globe Review: 'Death of Salesman'","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}