Long ago and far away, former President Jimmy Carter admitted to the world infamously having looked upon “a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” Famously Rodney Dangerfield built his comic career with the saying, “I don’t get no respect.” These two disparate announcements are tied together with strong rope in a strangely unique way in Arthur Miller’s dramatic production “A View from the Bridge” by Long Wharf Theatre until Sunday, March 10. If you are a lover of extraordinary theatre, you shouldn’t miss this opportunity.
Long Wharf has started a new tradition, matching the play with where it is produced. In an ideal pairing this play about the obsession of a longshore- man is being staged at New Haven’s Canal Dock Boathouse with a view of New Haven Harbor, with scores of seagulls swirling overhead, on a set designed by You-Shin Chen. Come meet the strong minded Eddie, powerfully portrayed by Dominic Fumusa, who is proud of his work ethic and demands respect for how he lives his life. His wife Beatrice, a caring and devoted Annie Parisse, loves him but sees his flaws and is quite aware that her sister’s daughter Catherine, a lovely and obedient Paten Hughes, is an obsession to Eddie. They have been raising here for years and now his hold on her has not matured now that she is grown young woman.
When Beatrice invites her two cousins from Italy to move in with them, so Marco, a grateful Antonio Magro who needs to support his wife and three children one of whom has tuberculosis, and a young and eager Rudolpho, ambitious in the hands of Mark Junek, who loves to sing, cook and make dresses, the Carbone household changes forever. The cousins are entering the country illegally and must watch their behavior so they are not discovered and arrested. If so, they will be sent back to their homeland.
When Eddie sees the influence and growing affection between Catherine and Rudolpho, he jealously tries to stop it, even consulting a neighborhood attorney, receiving Patricia Black’s cautioning advice, to see how he can legally stop their relationship. Eddie decides Rudolpho is using Catherine to ensure he can marry her and be a legal citizen and at the same time disguise his true sexuality. Eddie’s friends at work. played by Mike Boland and Todd Cerveris, weave in and out of the story.
Storm clouds are brewing and threaten to explode in violence. Eddie, in clinging to his demand for respect and control, commits an act destined to change lives. Catherine tries to declare her independence while Beatrice recognizes her fate and the condemning truth. The cousins are forced to watch their new worlds implode. This drama directed by James Dean Palmer will sear your brain with its stranglehold for a long time to come.
For tickets ($49-59, K-12 $0, college $10), call Long Wharf Theatre at 203-693-1486 or online at boxoffice@longwharf.org. Performances are Wednesday at 7 p.m., Thursday at 10:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Do not miss this tale of family, connections, immigration, home and the needs for control, respect and love and how this cauldron can boil out of its vessel instead of simply simmering with a mixture of flavors seasoned to taste.
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