Review: Not All Deals Are What They Seem in THE PRICE

Truth doesn't come cheap in Arthur Miller's THE PRICE. His portrait of two brothers wrapped in their self-weaved webs of lies and secrets is a classic exposition of the consequences that derive from the life choices they have made, of the fictions they created to justify their actions, and of the illusions they perpetuated to divert focus from painful facts. A not unfamiliar scenario in the lives of many families!

William Partlan's craftsmanship and reverential interpretation of the drama, now featured at Theatre Artists Studio, makes for a compelling and emotionally taut experience. He has guided his top flight cast through the depths and layers of Miller's architecture, opening one door of perception after another until truth stands naked at the exit, backed by the haunting laughter of irony.

For the first ten minutes of the play, it's the silence that's sweet and golden. Victor Franz (Walt Pedano), a beat (in more ways than one) cop and dutiful son, navigates nostalgically ~ andante ~ among the relics of his childhood home, preparing to fulfill his responsibility for the disposition of family mementoes before the building faces the excavator's jaws. It is this magical silence that is broken when reality intrudes upon the scene.

Pedano occupies the mood of the drama's opening moments with conviction and in turn captures and defines the emotional struggle that is Victor's to bear and resolve. He aches to be done with the sale and move beyond the memories of times and sacrifices past. Not so fast, though. There is unfinished business to be disposed as well.

Franz's street smarts as a police sergeant are outweighed by his naiveté as a negotiator, whether it is with his wife Esther (Judy Lebeau) who seeks to penetrate the fog of sibling war and pines for his retirement, his estranged brother Walter (Steven Mastroieni) who seeks redemption for some yet-to-be-revealed transgression, or Gregory Solomon (Alan Austin), the master broker of secondhand furniture, whose ultimate devotion is to the deal.

Lebeau plays counterpoint to Franz's angst with matching intensity, urging him to confront his demons, to forgive and forget, and to let go of the past. Mastroieni is riveting and mysterious, steeped in a stew of angst and remorse, as he approaches, avoids, and dances around a truth that inevitably must be revealed.

Alan Austin sparkles as Solomon, the wise man (or wise guy) whose presence in the play may have purpose beyond the obvious, perhaps a wily god figure playing with the needs and emotions of his subjects. At 92 and still kicking the dust off used goods, Solomon is a short-of-breath but long-on-haggling mix of rabbinic wisdom and clever sales techniques. He knows an advantageous appraisal when he sees one. After dancing around an offer and fending off Victor's pleas to close the deal, he finally bids $1100 for the entire lot.

As Solomon begins to count out the payment, Victor's brother unexpectedly appears and the dance of wits veers off in a new direction. Walter and Esther are loath to be short-changed and challenge the deal that Victor to which Victor has agreed.

A different reconciliation of accounts is at hand ~ between the brother who chose self-sacrifice and a career of public service and the brother who escaped the myth of family to achieve success as a businessman.

While the four characters thrust and parry in a contest of competing wills, two inanimate objects ~ a leather chair and an old harp ~ stand as silent witnesses and clues to past deceits and misunderstandings. A gripping denouement will reveal the secrets to which they attest and leave the audience breathless in its wake. This splendid cast will have sealed their part of the deal.

THE PRICE continues its run through October 30th and should be seen not only for the quality of the performances but also as a sobering reminder of what depth and richness exist in the classic dramas of such luminaries as Arthur Miller.

Photo credit to Mark Gluckman

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