Mrs. Loman, Barbara Cassady's sequel to Death of a Salesman, starts right after Willy's funeral. Linda Loman, her sons Biff and Happy, and next door neighbor Charley and his son Bernard gather at the Loman home to toast Willy. (The set was designed by Christopher & Justin Swader. The costumes were designed by Patricia Marjorie. Both are evocative and handsome.) They wonder why so few people came to the funeral. They wonder why Willy killed himself (and in that particular way). They wonder, Who was Willy? But while Arthur Miller wrote that attention must be paid to Willy, Cassady thinks that attention must be paid to Linda. It's a great idea, and Mrs. Loman, gracefully directed by Meghan Finn and boasting an excellent cast, mostly does it justice.
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| Photo: Mari Eimas-Dietrich |
The plot hits a number of familiar points as Linda, with the help of her new friend Esther, has the sort of adventures that one might see in a movie starring Jane Fonda and/or Diane Keaton and/or Lily Tomlin and/or many other actresses over sixty. But Cassady and the terrific Monique Vukovic revitalize these tropes by providing a compelling, three-dimensional Linda, for whom these tropes are true adventures in a true life. And Linda is taking a philosophy course, and enjoying it, as she rethinks her life.
The plotlines for Biff and Happy seem to me to be reasonable and interesting, if depressing, outgrowths of the characters' earlier lives as shown in Salesman. And Linda's responses underscore how she is growing into her own version of herself.
It is disappointing that Mrs. Loman gets in its own way. (Spoilers in this paragraph.) Cassady has grafted onto the play an annoying contemporary female character who comments on the action and occasionally becomes involved in weird ways (helping Linda dress; snapping her fingers for lights to come on). She adds nothing that the play doesn't already say. It feels as though Cassady didn't trust her own work to tell the story and/or thought the play needed to be less traditional. But the traditional play is good, insightful, and evocative and doesn't need a gimmick, particularly an annoying one. (End of spoilers.)
I would love to see a rewritten version, with the schtick carved away and the story/play allowed to shine.
Wendy Caster
