New York City Theater

"A View from the Bridge"
Cort Theatre, 138 West 48th St., New York

“A View from the Bridge” is now raising a storm on Broadway.  And no wonder, since this revival of the Arthur Miller drama is blessed with a flawless cast, headed by Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson, and directed by the visionary Gregory Mosher. The play itself offers a strong challenge to the gifted performers, giving them plenty with which to work. The story of longshoreman Eddie Carbone and his downfall is a riveting study in twisted human behavior. Audiences and performers alike are emotionally drained, as the last sad moments of “Bridge” die away.

“Tragedy” is not a word to be used lightly, and one can question whether modern man can indeed be a tragic figure. In Greek drama, where the concept originated, a hero was one brought down from the heights, destroyed by a singular flaw. In Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex,” it was pride which finished the King of Thebes. But Miller’s tragic figure is no Greek king. Eddie is a hard-working second-generation Sicilian, very much part of the Brooklyn dockside community. He lives with his wife Beatrice and niece Catherine (whom the childless couple has raised). He sweats to “put food on the table,” as he reminds them frequently. Though limited in vocabulary and lacking in self-knowedge, he lords it over his women. (Not surprisingly, they submit, as this is the ‘50s pre-feminist era.)

As Catherine has grown and blossomed, Eddie’s paternal affection for his niece turns into something else—a lust which he refuses to acknowledge (or perhaps even sense). He ignores his wife, focuses his concerns on Catherine. And when his wife’s two Sicilian cousins (illegal immigrants) arrive on his doorstep, the stakes are raised. Rodolfo and Catherine fall in love, a reality Eddie cannot tolerate. As the circumstances move relentlessly toward disaster, it may not be grand Greek tragedy, but it is modern tragedy all the same. Eddie will end by betraying his family, his community and, most of all, himself.

Liev Schreiber, arguably one of our best modern actors, holds us in his grip. Yet one cannot help but remember the New York production some years ago which featured Anthony LaPaglia. LaPaglia was Carbone, while this time around Schreiber, clearly, is not Carbone, but, rather, an actor who gives a superb performance.

Others in the cast who contribute to the show’s success are Johansson as Catherine, Jessica Hecht as Beatrice, and Michael Cristofer as the Narrator, the lawyer Alfieri. Mosher sees the story playing out in a tenement world, brilliantly depicted by set designer John Lee Beatty and lighting designer Peter Kaczorowski.

In all, a memorable evening on Broadway.

-- Irene Backalenick
January 28, 2010