Pulitzer Prize winner Arthur Miller ignites fires of lust, jealousy, and revenge at Theatre Palisades in A View From The Bridge, a community theater stunner whose riveting performances and spot-on direction rival the best that L.A. equity houses have to offer.

Miller’s gritty Greek tragedy set on the waterfront of 1950s Brooklyn remains as potent as ever in its depiction of how love gone crazy can lead a man to his doom, in this case the incestuous passion smoldering inside married Italian-American longshoreman Eddie Carbone (Peter Gregory) for his seventeen-year-old live-in niece Catherine (Isabella DiBernardino), a lust to which his long-suffering wife Beatrice (Maria O’Connor) has either consciously or unconsciously turned a blind eye.

The shit hits the fan when Beatrice’s fresh-off-the-boat illegal-immigrant cousins Marco (Monty Renfro) and Rodolpho (Darren M.B.) arrive from the old country to stay with the Carbones and Eddie takes an instant dislike (make that hatred and revulsion) to pretty-boy blond Rodolpho, whose tenor warbling and ways with a needle-and-thread convince the macho longshoreman that his cousin-in-law “ain’t right.”

No matter that Rodolpho’s “ain’t-rightness” would appear to be entirely in Eddie’s hothouse of a brain, the stage is set for Italian-American tragedy of ancient proportions.

Miller’s A Death Of A Salesman and All My Sons may be better known and more frequently revived than A View From The Bridge, but this mid-1950s edge-of-your-seater gives them stiff competition where greatness is concerned.

Just as Willy Loman found himself forced to face the reality of a career gone south and Joe Keller his complicity in his son’s death, Eddie Carbone must do the same where his feelings for his nubile niece are concerned, and the result proves devastating, both for himself and those in his orbit.

And just as Linda Loman and Kate Keller found their loyalty to Willy and Joe tested as each man faced potential ruin, Beatrice finds herself equally torn between her wedding vows and the inescapable truth that there are times when even the most devoted of wives must say “Enough is enough.”

In other words, “feel-good” A View From The Bridge is not, which is probably why many community theaters would opt for lighter, more subscriber-friendly fare like Steel Magnolias, Barefoot In The Park, and You Can’t Take It With You.

Not however Theatre Palisades, and given the enthusiastic response from Sunday’s matinee audience, A View From The Bridge seems likely to be as big a ticket seller as any of the abovementioned frothier fare would be.

Cate Caplin once again proves herself an actor’s director with an eye for visual composition, and the performances she has elicited are intense, authentic, and deeply felt.

A sensational Gregory reveals a once paternal affection twisted into something disturbingly carnal and increasingly out of control, while a superb O’Connor takes Beatrice from loving, supportive, subservient spouse to a woman hard-pressed to block her husband’s path to self-destruction.

With his six-footer’s frame, bleached blond hair, and delicate mannerisms, it’s no wonder a revelatory M.B. raises Eddie’s hackles from the moment of his arrival.

Only a few years out of high school herself, the captivating DiBernardino more than holds her own against her more seasoned scene partners.

Renfrow’s Marco takes fire in an Act Two confrontation that’s a stunner, and stage and screen vet Jason Culp does fine work as neighborhood lawyer Mr. Alfieri,  a one-man Greek chorus unable to stop Eddie’s downfall.

Andrew Chase and Christopher Landis provide solid support as dock workers Louis and Mike, and Joshua Farrell and Eric Shaffer are appropriately imposing as Immigration Officers. (David T. Downs plays Immigration Officer 1 on Fridays and Saturdays.)

Set designer Sherman Wayne gives the Carbones’ Brooklyn apartment an appropriately lived-in look, aided by properties designer O’Connor; Wayne’s and Clayton Collins’ lighting and Nick Foran’s sound design up the dramatic tension; and Michael Mullen’s costumes and Judi Lewin’s hair, wigs, and makeup effectively evoke mid-1950s Brooklyn.

Glenda Morgan Brown earns points for her dialect coaching and Jen Albert for some realistic fight choreography. Joanne Reich is scenic artist.

A View From The Bridge is produced by Martha Hunter and Wayne. Craig Hissong and Rachael Maye Aronoff are stage managers and Sydney Kamin is assistant stage manager.

Like Death Of A Salesman and All My Sons before it, A View From The Bridge offers further proof that there’s no finer 20th-century American playwright than Arthur Miller, and I’m happy to report that Theatre Palisades does this dramatic masterpiece the justice it deserves.

Theatre Palisades, 941 Temescal Canyon Rd., Pacific Palisades.
www.theatrepalisades.com

–Steven Stanley
March 31, 2024
Photos: Joy Daunis

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Arthur Miller, Los Angeles Theater Review, Theatre Palisades