Reading "All My Sons"

Somehow, through my four years in high school and first three years of college, I missed -- for the most part -- the Arthur Miller boat. Besides for a few lessons on The Crucible, which I enjoyed at the time but which left little mark on my psyche, most of what I knew of Arthur Miller was the titles of his plays -- The Man Who Had All the Luck, All My Sons, After the Fall, A View From the Bridge, Death of a Salesman...

He'll probably come up in my History of Drama and Theatre II class next semester, but I'm not one to wait around to be taught about something; I like to go out and teach myself whenever possible. So with this aim in mind -- to familiarize myself with All My Sons in advance of the Broadway revival's opening -- I bought Arthur Miller: Collected Plays (1944-1961) with my Barnes and Noble membership discount and sat down to read the play.

Oh. My. God. Arthur Miller is a genius. What a compelling topic -- residual scandal over the blunders of an unlikely war profiteer! Mixed with all kinds of family intrigue! And some of the best goddamn dialogue I've ever read for the theatre. It's been a while since I read a play that was such a page-turner. It reminded me a bit of Shaw's Major Barbara and a little bit of O'Neill, only combining the best elements of each to make for a real theatrical home run.

If Katie Holmes can pull of the plum role of Ann, the rest of the cast seems absolutely spot-on. I say, be there or be square!