Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf Breathe New Life Into ‘Death of a Salesman’

No role in 20th century American drama is more coveted by actors of a certain age than Willy Loman, the desperate, doomed protagonist of “Death of a Salesman.” Heavyweights from George C. Scott to Philip Seymour Hoffman (a bit young for the part at the time, but magnificent) have flocked to the theater district to tackle Arthur Miller’s modern tragic hero, whose losing battle with the social and economic forces driving his country has only gained resonance over that period.Now it’s Nathan Lane’s turn. Though most widely revered for his exhilarating work in musical comedy — the original “The Producers,” scrumptious revivals of “Guys and Dolls” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” — Mr. Lane has long pursued a range of projects, and over the past dozen years he has taken on dark and weighty characters, from Hickey in “The Iceman Cometh” to Roy Cohn in “Angels in America.”Willy is an even more natural choice, as there is something of the sad clown about him. The moment we first see Mr. Lane’s distinctly rumpled, gloriously expressive face, as the aging salesman returns from yet another fruitless venture, there’s the feeling of a good fit, and keen anticipation; excitement might be too strong a word, given how familiar this story is, and how utterly sorrowful.The challenge posed by “Salesman,” in fact, is that it’s a play about losers — not in the snarky sense of that word, but people who have both failed to achieve and been failed by the American dream. In the wrong hands, under a director who doesn’t serve the righteous passion and unvarnished elegance of Miller’s writing, the play can be as dreary as it should be devastating and cathartic.Fortunately, this new revival is helmed by Joe Mantello, whose Broadway credits extend from “Wicked” to a diverse array of classic and original plays, the most recent being the gorgeous “Little Bear Ridge Road” by Samuel D. Hunter, an inheritor to Miller in the moral humanism he brings to studies of flawed, struggling people.Mr. Mantello has cast an alumna of “Ridge Road” and another stage and screen star, Laurie Metcalf, as Willy’s wife, Linda, whom some critics have characterized, erroneously, as a doormat. Ms. Metcalf defies this notion as aggressively as any actress I’ve seen in the role, summoning rage and despair with equal force. She’s a woman standing by her man, yes, but by choice, and with a clear sense of purpose.If anything, this Linda comes across as the stronger partner in her marriage, and Ms. Metcalf and Mr. Lane forge a tender bond that makes their moments of false hope as poignant as the disappointment and destruction that inevitably follow. Mr. Lane’s Willy makes his initial entrance from a car that remains onstage, prominent in Chloe Lamford’s stark scenic design, throughout the production, foreshadowing his final, awful act of defeat.The performers are equally affecting in relaying the Lomans’ more complicated, at times contentious relationships with their sons. Christopher Abbott brings an especially brooding quality to Biff, the former high school football hero now adrift in life, frustrated by his father’s lofty expectations for him, while Ben Ahlers emphasizes the relative slickness of Happy, the less appreciated younger brother, and the resentment festering underneath it.Interestingly, Mr. Mantello has assigned the two most grounded and successful characters in “Salesman,” Willy’s neighbor Charley and Charley’s own son, Bernard, to black actors: respectively, K.Todd Freeman and Michael Benjamin Washington, both excellent. In the last Broadway staging of this play, less than four years ago, the Lomans themselves were portrayed by black performers.Of course, the original inspiration for Willy Loman was a Jewish man, Miller’s own uncle, Manny Newman, a salesman during the Depression. Miller’s choice to not identify the Lomans as Jews has long sparked debate; the playwright eventually conceded that they were, but argued in a 1969 interview that their “religious or cultural background” seemed “irrelevant.” In an essay written 30 years later, he went further, describing the characters as “light years away from religion or a community that might have fostered Jewish identity.” This in itself raises fascinating possibilities for any director willing to lean into the Lomans’ actual ethnicity, since Willy’s tragedy is informed by his obvious obsession with assimilation, both a common goal and a point of fierce argument among Jews. He speaks of wanting to be “well liked”; at one point, revealing the self-doubt behind his bluster to Linda, he says, “I talk too much. A man oughta come in with a few words.” His preoccupation with professional accomplishment, moreover, while hardly exclusive to Jewish Americans, could be mined to explore specific pressures within that culture. Though Jewish actors have played Willy on Broadway—Lee J. Cobb introduced the part, and Dustin Hoffman played it in 1984—I’m still waiting for a contemporary production that truly taps into this potential, perhaps starting with more comprehensive casting. For now, this “Death of a Salesman,” at once respectful and harrowing on its own terms, will do nicely.

Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf Breathe New Life Into ‘Death of a Salesman’

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