PLAY REVIEWS
Death of a Salesman - The Loft Theatre - Dayton, OH
The Loft
(Wednesday, January 29th)
This was a production of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. We
(being myself, Mite and Simi) went to see it since it was donation day (where
you could pay a small donation or donate food to the local food bank) to
gain entry. This is a great thing for cheap-o's like us. Anyway since it
was first come first seated we arrived about 45 minutes early and were in
a long winding line. After about half an hour we were let in and seated
in the familiar Loft theatre. I have seen several productions here and they've
always been excellent. However, I've never been to one of these shows and
since it was the first live performance I expected there to be a few flaws
that hadn't been worked out yet.
After a bit of sitting around the lights started to dim and the audiance quited down...then the lights came back on and thanks to our seats in the back you hear the technicians trying to figure out what was wrong. After a five minute break the problem was solved and the play started. I haven't seen Death of a Salesman performed before and it's been many years since I read it, but I can say that this version was excellent. I thought that all the actors and actresses put on wonderful performances but the standouts were Richard Henzel (Willy Loman), Diane Houghton (Linda Loman), Ralph Dennler (Charley), John Paul Saurine (Happy Loman) and Bruce Cromer as the moody Biff Loman. I felt that the play had a great flow and the only time there seemed to be a lag was after Willy's death, which seemed to take a while to get organized. In addition I really thought the orchestra did a wonderful job adding to the mood of the scenes and the well designed set was very functional and helped to bring an extra element to the play. Another feature which I though was an excellent idea was having the cast who were not being used in a scene sitting behind the set and using them as vocal extras.
Overall I would say that this was one of the best plays
which I have seen at the Loft and good example of the talent and creativity
which can be found in the Dayton area. I look forward to seeing many more
plays at this theatre and the several other ones which are in the Dayton
area.
-- Grog Mutant (2003)