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Arthur Miller

There has been almost universal adulation of Arthur Miller in the wake of Miller's passing last week.

When I moved from Boro Park to the Upper West Side in late 1997, a time that I was much younger and wealthier, I began attending a lot of Broadway plays. In the spring of 1998, I was very excited when A View From The Bridge, written by Miller in the 1950's, was revived. The play was extraordinary, and won Tony awards for best revival of a play and best actor (Anthony LaPaglia). Allison Janney, now known for her Emmy Award winning performances on The West Wing, was brilliant and also was nominated for a Tony.

LaPaglia, incidentally, is to star in a film version of the play, which I'm sure will be superb.

The next year, Death Of A Salesman was revived. It too was quite memorable and resonant, though probably not as good as View From The Bridge, even if more noteworthy.

Since then I've seen several other Arthur Miller plays, such as The Price. These plays were generally pretty good, but nothing special. And truthfully, aside from Salesman and View From A Bridge, I can't think of another Miller play that can be considered a classic. The Crucible is deemed by some to be a third Miller classic, but it really is not on the level of the others.

This is not to suggest that Miller is not a great American playwright, but given that only two (or at most three) of his plays are essential, I believe that a more balanced critique, based upon Miller's entire body of work, would be welcome.
posted on 2/16/2005