First (Or is it second?) Death of a Salesman Preview

Was anyone there tonight? How was it? It is one of my favorite plays and I'm very excited. Can't wait to hear reports.

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Twitter reports are very positive.

@Vanessa Jackman
Just saw a preview of Death of a Salesman on Broadway. The whole cast were brilliant but Philip Seymour Hoffman was breathtaking. Go see it!\Ulku Erucar

@UlkuErucar
Philip Seymour Hoffman is a genius! Loved Death of a Salesman. cc@prknyc

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I was there this evening. The production is strong overall! I do agree, however, that it still needs some work. It wanted to fly, but just never took off. I really enjoyed Andrew Garfield's performance along with Hoffman! It was hard to believe that it was his Broadway debut while watching his performance! I really do feel though that the potential is there, and by opening I can see this being a hit!

Another opinion from ATC.
Attention Must Be Paid

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Also, did anyone try or are you going to try rush? What time did you get there/ are thinking about getting there? I'm going on Saturday around 8:30 and hope to be OK!

Saw it tonight and couldn't disagree with you more, AC. I found this to be the most bizarrely miscast production of a play I've ever seen. Not only is everyone far too young (and frankly, I don't care that Lee J. Cobb was too young -- it's odd), but Biff and Happy should clearly switch roles. Biff looks like an emaciated twink compared to his buff, athletic brother.

I'll post more detailed thoughts tomorrow, but I think Nichols has A LOT of work ahead of him.

Hoffman isn't awful. He's almost good. But I thought his memories were lacking the charisma we should see shine through in those moments. His present, however, is mostly captivating.

Some bizarre choices from Nichols, like Biff standing aside, watching Willy's final scene with Ben. (Structurally, this doesn't make much sense.)

And Garfield's inability to cry real tears (and trying to compensate us with some Acting 101 vocal sobbing), along with the constant nervous shifting, the over-the-top Brooklyn boy make him look like a real amateur.

Happy and Linda are the stand-outs without a doubt. Though I did enjoy Bernard as well. Seeing the original set design is thrilling, especially when that first glorious light shift occurs and the stage is sprinkled in autumn. Beautiful.

Glover, who I normally love, seems a little lost, or out-of-place.

I hope it finds its footing. It's a beautiful play. But right now this is a terribly mediocre production. And with Dennehy still searing our minds, it will beg the question "Why did we need this now?" unless it improves.

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I'm not sure I trust the opinion of someone who thought A Doll's Life was worthing reviving.

[retracted.]

Updated On: 1/30/14 at 07:37 AM

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He may have been fine had they chosen a different Happy. Physically, Biff looks all wrong next to him. Happy is chiseled, athletic, a beautiful guy, while his brother looks tiny. Never the one you'd known would be the star athlete.

On top of it all he and Happy are doing very heavy Brooklyn accents while their parents are not. I suppose an argument could be made that they grew up in Brooklyn, but it stands out and seems a bit over-the-top.

It's an oddball family. The ages are completely off. And no one seems to really match one another.

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Hmm... well, two things to keep in mind -- and, as I've not seen the production and so can't speak to his interpretation of the role, I'm most interested in your issue with Garfield's physical self, which seems to be why you feel he's miscast --

Remember that quarterbacks and receivers are typically the most lithe members of any football squad, and, more importantly, that athletes of the 1940s were not the pumped-up, gym-chiseled athletes we see today. I'd say Andrew Garfield has the exact build of a high-school quarterback of that period

And secondly... is Biff really a star athlete, anyway? That's, of course, what he is to Willy, but as we know, Willy's grasp of reality and the way it interacts with and colors his memories is dangerously tenuous.

I think there was some discussion on this when the casting news broke a few months ago. It intrigues me.

And what seems off about their ages?

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Updated On: 2/16/12 at 08:51 AM

One creative decision that has to be decided when casting any production of DEATH OF A SALESMAN is what age to cast the principals, since the play floats a 17 year time difference.

Most productions cast the leads on the older side, with I think the correct assumption that having actors that actually closer to 60 (Willy) and 35 (Biff) illustrate the tragic-pathetic loss of lives wasted to greater effect than when the roles are cast younger.

This production has gone in the opposite direction: Hoffman is 44. Garfield is (a very young looking) 28 and whether or not that was a good decision (beyond the obvious box office appeal of these actors) is I think is something that will probably be debated and mentioned in reviews.

Updated On: 2/16/12 at 09:07 AM

While I can't say that I'm on board with your reasoning, (or maybe I don't have a notion of what "a Biff" should be, nor do I think his athleticism [or possibile lack thereof] should necessarily be contextualized by how he looks next to Happy), the costume choice you describe above sounds too extreme not to be deliberate. That's not to imply that it's a choice that works. But perhaps these notions are being deliberately toyed with. It does make me wonder.'

Objectively speaking, I can't say I've got any problem with the ages at face value. But if it looks jarring, as you imply, or if some of the pathos suffers because of the choice to skew younger, that's a problem.

I'm unavoidably reminded of Hoffman's character's production of DEATH OF A SALESMAN in "Synecdoche, New York," where he uses actors in their 20s to play Willy and Linda. In rehearsal, he tells the actory playing Willy, who has just "ambivalently" wrecked the car -- "Try to keep in mind that a young person playing Willy Loman thinks he's only pretending to be at the end of a life full of despair, but the tragedy is that we know that you, the young actor, will end up in this very place of desolation."

el oh el

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Updated On: 2/16/12 at 09:22 AM