Revival of Miller's 'Ride' never reaches its destination
Actors will go to great lengths to perform an Arthur Miller play. Redtwist theatre's revival of Miller's "The Ride Down Mount Morgan" suggests just how far.
Suburban actors Robert Dennison, Jacqueline Grandt and Jan Ellen Graves travel all the way from Naperville, Arlington Heights and Skokie (respectively) to a tiny storefront theater on Chicago's far North Side to star in redtwist's production of Miller's infrequently staged 1991 play.
Unfortunately, this "Ride" doesn't merit such devotion.
Some rarely revived plays turn out to be hidden gems. Others turn out to be pieces of glass. Implicit references to the superior "Death of a Salesman" notwithstanding, this unimpressive, rather tedious drama about a bigamist in the midst of a midlife crisis falls into the latter category. And even the best efforts of director Alex Levy and his dedicated cast can't add much luster to it.
Miller's not-so-stinging indictment of selfishness and betrayal centers around the patrician, Teflon-coated Lyman Felt (Dennison), a late middle-aged, wildly successful and endlessly self-absorbed insurance executive who has spent nearly a decade juggling two wives.
Stoic Theodora (played by Graves with her typical depth and dignity) is the minister's daughter to whom Lyman has been married for 30 years. They share a Manhattan home, an adult daughter Bessie (Susan Myburgh) and a life of urbane sophistication. With the younger Leah (the feisty, vulnerable Grandt), his mistress-turned-wife and mother of his 9-year-old son, Lyman lives the life of a country gentleman outside Elmira, N.Y.
A near-fatal, high-speed crash near Elmira involving Lyman, his Porsche, a snowstorm and a treacherous mountain road lands him in the hospital. A well-meaning nurse (a nicely wary Michèle Cason) summons Theo, who arrives with Bessie and Tom (John Arthur Lewis), Lyman's friend and lawyer. Theo and Leah's inadvertent meeting in the waiting room exposes the lying man's double life and prompts everyone involved to reconsider their relationship. Except for Lyman, whose determination to live without fear and to remain true to himself (regardless of the pain it causes other people) amounts to little more than a justification for his own selfishness and infidelities. He insists, in true scoundrel fashion, that he's given both women exactly what they want.
Right.
Miller's unwillingness to condemn Lyman outright (the character comes across as more disagreeable than outright loathsome) suggests that the playwright condones his behavior, which definitely blunts any satirical edge "The Ride Down Mount Morgan" might have had.
Add to that the coarse, uninspired dialogue, underdeveloped characters and the unforgivably insulting way Miller treats Theo in the play's final scenes, and you've got a "Ride" parked firmly in the second tier of the Miller canon.
"The Ride Down Mount Morgan"
Rating: 2½ stars
Location: redtwist theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr, Chicago
Showtimes: 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays through July 3
Running time: About two hours, with intermission
Tickets: $22-$30
Parking: Metered parking available
Box office: (773) 728-7529 or redtwist.org
Rating: For adults