Theater Reviews : With Rich Supporting Cast, Director Sells ‘Death’

It’s near impossible to write a towering tragedy about a nonentity. Arthur Miller has probably come closest with his “Death of a Salesman.”

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Director Joel T. Cotter’s staging at Alternative Repertory Theatre shows how close Miller came, and how narrowly he missed it.

It’s a matter of stature. Willy Loman and his family ain’t got none. Well, Willy’s son Biff has a little at the end. The only way any of these people can find stature is in the actors’ ability to infuse the characters with size and importance.

Cotter has created a warm, true and naturalistic ambience for the Lomans, at times harsh and honest, at times poetic. What he hasn’t been able to do is give his Willy, played by Robert Getz, a feeling of a power wasted, of strength ravaged, a live-wire salesman run down like an old clock.

Getz hits all the right notes but never with the depth he should have. His Willy is distracted rather than burdened, frantic rather than stunned by the final blows that beat him into the ground and drive him to that gas pipe in the cellar.

Others in the cast have a richer ring and a deeper base for their characters.

Laurie Freed’s Linda, just as much a failure as a helpmate as she is soothing as a wife, has an interesting brittle quality just behind her smiles. She knows what Willy is, and always has been, and when his one big chance comes--a job offer from his brother Ben--she talks him out of it; Freed’s Linda knows he isn’t up to it. Her stature is in her devotion to a lost cause.

Kenna James, as Biff, gives the strongest performance. In spite of his high-school athletic triumphs in Willy’s dream-world flashbacks, Biff knows that’s the end of his winning. He, too, is a loser. But when Biff, alone among the family, realizes that, James’ honesty gives him a stature none of the others has. James’ slow growth of realization as Biff stumbles on through life and his final cataclysmic shock of self-recognition is sizable and important.

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Dennis McLernon’s Happy is as directionless as Willy, but his dumbness and sleazy social skills have been honed into an instrument for self-deception that is frighteningly more workable than the same qualities in his father. McLernon’s Happy is more tragic than Getz’s hesitant, bumbling Willy.

Ed Hayes is calm and truthful as Willy’s well-to-do neighbor Charlie, and Gary Christensen excellent as his intelligent son (Christensen is also very good doubling as Willy’s boss and a slick waiter). John Gilbert has a good superior tone as Willy’s successful brother, and Jeanne Dubuque successfully triples as three women in the Loman lives.

Although this Willy has no stature, the production does, with its sense of period and Cotter’s ability to bring a few moments of dated writing to life. It demonstrates a knowledge of such moments’ importance to a framework created by Miller that is difficult to keep whole and truthful half a century after it was written.

* “Death of a Salesman,” Alternative Repertory Theatre, 1636 S. Grand Ave., Santa Ana. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 5 p.m. Ends March 5. $16. (714) 836-7929. Running time: 3 hours. Robert Getz: Willy Loman

Laurie Freed: Linda Loman

Kenna James: Biff Loman

Dennis McLernon: Happy Loman

Ed Hayes: Charlie

John Gilbert: Ben Loman

Jeanne Dubuque: The Woman, Miss Forsythe, Jenny

Gary Christensen: Bernard, Howard, Stanley

An Alternative Repertory Theatre production of Arthur Miller’s drama, produced by Kathleen A. Bryson. Directed by Joel T. Cotter. Scenic/lighting design: David C. Palmer. Sound design: Gary Christensen. Costume design: Scott Clish. Stage manager: Todd Alan Fuessel.