‘All My Sons’ Interpretation Offers More Silliness Than Sagacity

One of last year’s more forgettable off-Broadway entries was a play called “Mrs. Loman,” which imagined the life of the widow left behind after the tragic fate of the protagonist of “Death of a Salesman.” Author Barbara Cassidy conceived the latter-day work as a feminist critique, presumably drawing inspiration from the notion that Arthur Miller drew Linda Loman as a doormat — a theory currently being smashed to pieces by Laurie Metcalf’s ferocious performance, opposite Nathan Lane, in the latest Broadway revival of “Salesman.”A different agenda would seem to drive “A Woman Among Women,” a new one-act play by Julia May Jonas, described in a press release as “a counterpoint” to another Miller classic, “All My Sons.” Ms. Jonas, best known for writing “Vladimir,” a bestselling novel tracing a married female professor whose sexual aggression is awakened by a junior male colleague — she recently adapted the book for a Netflix series — has not crafted a sequel to the 1947 drama, which followed a family haunted by its patriarch’s immoral business practices and the presumed death of one of his sons in battle.Instead, Ms. Jonas has tried to create contemporary parallels to the characters and dilemmas in “Sons,” and the result, while not as mired in self-righteousness as Ms. Cassidy’s take on “Salesman,” can be precious or merely insipid on its own terms. “Woman,” now running off-Broadway at Lincoln Center’s Claire Tow Theater, centers on the Cleo, who is in her mid-60s and runs a wellness center in Northampton, Massachusetts, “an ethnically and racially diverse area with hippie tendencies, a strong LGBTQ+ community, and a developed social conscience,” as described in the script.As played by stage veteran Dee Pelletier, Cleo has both a salt-of-the-earth vibe and an edge of imperiousness that grows more pronounced as problems fester. The main source of trouble, it appears, is the younger of her two grown daughters, Josephine, frequently referred to as Jo, who is serving a prison sentence as the consequence of a violent episode that, as Cleo will keep reminding us, left a man unable to walk.To complicate matters, Jo’s sister, Grace, who works with her mother, has fallen in love with her husband, Roy, who is caring for his and Jo’s four-year-old daughter while her mom sits in jail. As we meet the neighbors who also make up Cleo’s community — a fastidiously diverse group, per Ms. Jonas’s directions — other tensions unfold, leading up to a revelation of Cleo’s possible culpability in Jo’s fate.The play opens with the performers humming, and they continue to break into song at different points in the show for no apparent reason, or none that I could determine — Brian Cavanagh-Strong composed the casual, singsong-like melodies. The crass sexual references that litter the dialogue can seem equally gratuitous; there’s a lot of talk about Jo’s penis, seemingly one she drew, as it has been painted over, and we get way too much information about Grace’s yearning for Roy.“When I get close to him my body plumps up with fluid,” shares Grace, who is given a redeeming sweetness in Zoë Geltman’s portrait. “Like my whole body feels more taut. Like I feel sick you know. Like buzzy and sweaty.” She adds, for good measure, “I’m pretty sure I gave him a boner when we were driving here.”Sarah Cameron Hughes’s playful direction has nurtured other appealing performances, among them Gabriel Brown’s alternately charming and repellent Roy and Brittany K. Allen’s droll take on Christine, a lawyer who lives nearby with her wife and their children. Morgan Siobhan Green is a standout as both Rida, a sly neighborhood kid, and Trisha, Roy’s mom, who stops by with a box of Dunkin’ Munchkins and some wise words for her son, who is, aside from Cleo, the most resistant to giving Jo a second chance.“Change. Forgiveness. Grace. All that stuff I gave to you,” Trisha reminds Roy. “A Woman Among Women” is at its best when underlining these virtues — or, if you’re lucky enough to be seated in the front row, when Munchkins are handed out to audience members. For the most part, though, Ms. Jonas’s revisionist play offers more silliness than sagacity.

‘All My Sons’ Interpretation Offers More Silliness Than Sagacity

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