Theater review

Tom Titus

The year was 1947. Americans were still in a euphoric,

self-congratulatory mood following victories on two fronts in World War

II. Then a budding young playwright named Arthur Miller threw a monkey

wrench into the works with his first Broadway play, “All My Sons.”

Miller’s postwar counterpunch was a body blow that still packs a wallop,

particularly when presented with such uncompromising power as South Coast

Repertory offers in its revival, the latest in the company’s American

Classics series.

It is a superlative and unsettling depiction of the disintegration of an

American family.

As he would in later plays with such tragic figures as Willy Loman and

Eddie Carbone, Miller centers his story around a strong, patriarchal

figure, Joe Keller, an industrialist who provided armaments for the

government during the war -- some of which were flawed, resulting in a

number of American deaths. Joe was imprisoned briefly, then exonerated,

but his partner remains incarcerated.

This is not the extent of the tension surrounding the Keller family. One

of Joe’s sons, Larry, was killed in combat. Now Larry’s fiancee is poised

to marry the other son, Chris, over the fervent objections of his mother,

Kate, who clings almost rabidly to the hope that Larry still lives.

Under the painstaking direction of Martin Benson, “All My Sons” unfolds

with disarming ease and naturalness in the backyard of the Keller home,

splendidly recreated by scenic designer Tony Fanning. Neighbors file in

and out, joking and building an atmosphere of normalcy and content, but

the emotional cancer continues to spread.

Superior performances abound, headed by Peter Michael Goetz’s riveting

interpretation of Joe, defending his role in the tragedies to his family

from a fervent economic position: “I did it for you.” Goetz paints

himself into an emotional corner with alternating bravado and

desperation.

Linda Gehringer as his wife, who shares her husband’s terrible secret, is

an even more desperate figure, fanatically clinging to the possibility

her missing son is alive. Her eerie single-mindedness permeates the

production and enhances its necessarily unsettling atmosphere.

The key portrayal, of the surviving son whose elevated moral position

intimidates those around him, is delivered with bullet force by Simon

Billig. His ultimate confrontation with his father resonates with a

powerful ferocity.

Nancy Bell beautifully interprets the young woman who has shifted her

love from one brother to the other, unhampered by the fact that her own

father is in prison for Keller’s crime. Bell and Billig excel in the

difficult and tentative sequence cementing their newfound relationship.

As her troubled brother, whose unsettling news ignites the

already-flammable situation, Darrin Singleton skillfully resists

disarming offers of friendship to complete his mission. Tony Pasqualini

breathes a fine air of cordiality into the mixture as the idealistic

doctor next door, while Sarah Brooks has some more divisive moments as

his unhappy wife.

Neighborly atmosphere is believably provided by James Nardini and Laura

Hinsberger, while Gabe Wolpa and Mitchell Hutchinson alternate in the

role of a young boy fascinated with Keller’s brush with law enforcement.

“All My Sons” introduced mainstream theater audiences to a playwright who

would become one of America’s greatest. SCR’s stunning production

provides some insight into that period, more than a half-century ago,

when Miller made a powerful case for morality and social responsibility.

FYI

* What: “All My Sons”* When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2:30 and 8

p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through April 1

* Where: South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

* Tickets: $18 to $47

* Call: (714) 708-5555