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ALL MY SONS
by Tony Annicone
Little Rhody Entertainment Writer
Curtain Call Theatre of Braintree's current show is the searing
drama All My Sons by Arthur Miller. The play takes place
in 1947 and is an impassioned wartime saga of the Kellers, a Midwestern
family struggling with their secrets and their tragedies. Joe, the
father, is a fiercely loyal family man who has built a successful
manufacturing firm which has come under investigation for the sale
of defective parts to the army. When twenty-one pilots die as a
result, he is arrested and tried, but cleared. However his partner,
Steve Deever, is convicted and jailed. Larry, Joe's son, is a pilot
who is MIA, but his mother, Kate, believes he is still alive after
three years. When their other war hero son, Chris returns home and
announces his engagement to his brother's old girlfriend, Ann (Deever's
daughter), his mother becomes distraught and further tension mounts
as the fabric of the family is torn. Suspicion arises about a possible
cover-up of who was really responsible for shipping the defective
parts, which leads to an inevitable tragic conclusion. Director
Michael Pevzner casts his ten member cast perfectly in this electrifying
and emotionally charged drama and their splendid portrayals elicit
tears as its human drama touches the audience's hearts, making it
a must see show of this season.
The first act tells the events of the past which lead to the confrontation
and argument action in the second act. The show begins with a tree
dedicated to Larry being knocked over by a strong wind which foreshadows
the tragic events to come. Michael builds the tension of the show
into a perfect climax where the son realizes his father's guilt.
The son breaks down crying after his powerful argument with his
father in the first scene of the second act and sobs uncontrollably
with his mother at the close of the show. The gorgeous two story
house and porch is designed by Jim Gross. The lighting design by
Artie Sharpe depicts the different times of the day: afternoon in
August, then twilight, and 2 AM the next day. The period style costumes
are designed by Martha Sawyer with her assistant, Alice Finnegan
and the sound design is by Courtney Gallagher and Ed Krasnow and
run by Tammy Capone. The stage manager is Michael's real life daughter,
Niclole Zanetti who keeps the show running smoothly while keeping
the ten member cast on their toes with their entrances and exits
all night long.
Brad Pickett does a wonderful job as Joe, who no matter how hard
the character tries to covers his tracks, the past always comes
back to haunt him, over and over again. Brad makes Joe jovial at
first when he talks to his neighbors and with a small boy by pretending
his basement is a jail to imprison all the bad kids in the neighborhood.
However as time goes on, he is torn apart by the realization that
his actions killed Larry and his brothers in the service, the other
pilots, making Joe into the murderer of all his sons. Valerie Sheehy
delivers a powerhouse performance as the deluded Kate Keller who
has to believe Larry is still alive or her world will fall apart
by knowing Joe killed him. She gives Kate the strength to stand
up to Joe and anyone who threatens her view of things. Valerie is splendid
as she mesmerizes the audience in this role, running the gamut of
emotions while doing so. Another magnificent performance is by Christian
Potts who plays Chris, the idealistic son who believes the best
about everyone until his world is shattered by the realization of
his father's responsibility in his brother's death. Christian's
argument with the father becomes a physical battle which leaves
him in tears as well as the ending of the play with the final death
offstage, leaving him crying uncontrollably. These two scenes are
emotionally draining for the audience with their poignancy as well
as with Christian's interactions with Brad and Valerie, too. Monica
Stein plays Ann Deever, Chris' fiancee. She tries to be happy go
lucky during most of the show until the final scene where she reveals
the contents of Larry's last letter to her. The letter resolves
what happened to Larry and puts the blame on the guilty party. Monica
interacts with the other performers wonderfully, getting the emotions
of this young woman across to the audience with ease. Charlie Cooley
plays Ann's lawyer brother, George who returns home after a visit
to their father in prison. He plays the angry young man who promises
to expose Joe's guilt which he eventually does but the Kellers and
Ann choose to ignore it. Charlie makes the most of his time on stage
as George.
Rounding out this cast as the neighbors of the Keller family are
Mark Logue as the well meaning but discontented doctor Bayliss who
knows the family secret, Cathy Larson as his bitchy, back biting,
shrew wife Sue who constantly nags him and secretly despises Chris
and his supposedly ideal family, Ed Krasnow as the dippy astrology
loving haberdasher, Frank Lubey and Courtney Gallagher as his not
too bright, baby making wife, Lydia who can't tell one plug from
the other on her kitchen appliances. Last but not least is the 10
year old, energetic, ball of fire Jim Sheehy who plays Bert, a young
boy who thinks Joe is a detective and squeals on another boy swearing.
Jim is Valerie's real life son, proving that talent runs in their
family.
So for a look back on an award winning show from the past which
is still relevant in today's war torn world with Halliburton and
other crooked companies looking for short cuts, be sure to catch
this topnotch production of "All My Sons" before time runs out.
Just tell them Tony sent you.
ALL MY SONS ( 28 October -5 November, 2005)
Curtain Call Theatre, 182 Commercial Street, Braintree, MA 1 (781)
356-5113 or www.curtaincallbraintree.org
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