First presented at the Young Vic in 2014, the 2016 Tony Award-winning Broadway production of A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE (Best Revival and Best Direction) is now being presented at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre through Oct. 16. Following the run, Center Theatre Group will tour this production to the Kennedy Center for an engagement in the Eisenhower Theater, which will play from Nov. 18 to Dec. 3.
The current revival with brilliantly minimal staging by director Ivo van Hove centers on Eddie, a Brooklyn longshoreman who is obsessed with his 17-year-old niece Catherine and consumed by his raging jealousy over her love of an immigrant to whom he has offered shelter. Eddie’s jealousy erupts in a rage that consumes him, his family and his world. Miller has said that he heard the basic account that developed into the plot for the play from a lawyer who worked with longshoremen, who related it to him as a true story.
As the intense Eddie, Frederick Weller lets us see into the soul of a troubled man who knows what he is feeling is wrong yet cannot stop himself from wanting to shelter his wife’s orphaned and innocent niece (the lovely Catherine Combs) from the brutal world, not wanting any other man to experience what he cannot with her.
Her innocence is a prize he wants to protect for the right man, but after he opens his Brooklyn home to two of his wife’s immigrant cousins, the married and ruggedly dark Marco (Alex Escola) and his tall, blond, handsome and very single brother Rudolpho (Dave Register), it’s easy to see how the sheltered girl immediately falls head over heels for him.
This new production of an American classic features on-stage seating flanking the stage on two sides. The center set resembles a boxing ring with bench seating on three sides, with the story’s narrator Alfien (Thomas Jay Ryan) often circling the set as he recounts the tragic tale he experienced as Eddie’s confident during his struggle to accept the fact that Catherine has grown up and will soon be leaving his home to marry a man he does not think is good enough for her. Alfien gives Eddie great advice fully knowing he will listen to none of it as his physical obsession with his niece rules every choice Eddie makes. Ryan offers a sympathetic look at a man who feels powerless to help, yet somehow keeps trying to bring Eddie into the real world and to let his niece’s life move on just as it should.
The scenic and lighting design by Jan Versweyveld, costumes by An D’Huys and sound design by Tom Gibbons are kept simple, thus allowing the audience to really listen to the dialogue. A thumping drum overshadows each major decision being made, with the action freezing to allow you to feel the tension going on between characters or within their own minds. As the intensity built to the breaking point during the final scene, you could hear a pin drop when the inevitable confrontation takes place, which will leave you gasping for breath.
My deepest praise is offered to the entire cast which includes Danny Binstock, Catherine Combs, Alex Esola, Andrus Nichols, Howard W. Overshown, Dave Register, Thomas Jay Ryan and Frederick Weller, for their dedication to portraying each character truthfully, even though casting for Italian immigrant dockworkers seems to be against type for several of them.
Tickets for “A View From the Bridge” range from $25 to $125 ($25 for onstage seating) and are available by calling 213-972-4400 or online at CenterTheatreGroup.org, or by visiting the Center Theatre Group box office at the Ahmanson Theatre. The Ahmanson Theatre is located at The Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., Downtown Los Angeles,.
