An absolutely sensational Antaeus Theatre Company cast under the inspired direction of Oanh Nguyen make it abundantly clear why many like this reviewer consider Arthur Miller’s All My Sons (and not his more celebrated and revived Death Of A Salesman) his masterwork.

Debuting on Broadway less than two years after World War II ended with Japan’s surrender, Miller’s examination of personal responsibility in time of war proves even more impactful and relevant today, seventy-nine years after its New York premiere.

The 1947 Tony Award winner revolves around a day in the life of the Kellers, a Midwest family who seem from the outside to be living the American Dream.

Joe Keller (Bo Foxworth) is a prosperous factory owner married to Kate (Tessa Auberjonois) and father to returned soldier Chris (Matthew Grondin), a trio whose lives are about to be torn apart by a visit from former next-door neighbor Ann Deever (Shannon Lee Clair), back in town for the first time since moving to New York several years earlier.

Ann and the Kellers’ older son Larry were an item when Larry went off to war, but the elder Keller progeny was declared missing in action three years ago and Kate steadfastly refuses to presume him dead, unlike Ann who has begun secretly dating Chris.

Unfortunately for the would-be betrothed couple, for Chris’s mother to accept her younger son’s engagement to Larry’s fiancée would mean a tacit acceptance of Larry’s death, and Kate remains steadfast in her conviction that he is, indeed that he must be, still alive.

There’s also the pesky matter of Ann’s father’s imprisonment for having “knowingly sent out defective airplane parts” from Joe’s factory and in so doing having caused the deaths of twenty-one fighter pilots, a decision he insists was approved of by Joe despite the latter’s steadfast denials.

When Ann’s brother George (Michael Yapujian) shows up on the Kellers’ doorstep bound and determined to right the wrong done to his father by Joe, the stage is set for a two-family showdown which will forever alter the path of Chris Keller’s life and the lives of those he loves.

Does a person’s responsibility to his family trump his responsibility to humanity? Does war bring out the worst in people, or their best? Can a person go on living without self-respect or the respect of others?

Not only does All My Sons ask audiences to ponder these questions, it asks them to consider how each of its characters would answer them, and does so in what may be the finest example of the “well-made play,” one in which the entire action unfolds inexorably over the course of a single day and night as its audience slowly but surely becomes aware of exactly what transpired on what was supposed to be Larry’s “fortunate day.”

Orange County audiences have celebrated the brilliance of Chance Theater’s Oanh Nguyen these past twenty years, and it is now Angelinos’ turn to discover his directorial gifts in as stunning an All My Sons as any Arthur Miller fanatic could hope for.

The first thing audiences will notice upon entering the theater is how up-close-and-in-your-face the Keller home and property are, an apple-and-leaf-strewn front lawn extending right up the front row, and by giving us only the framework of the Keller home, Nguyen and scenic designer Fred Kinney allow us to see inside the house at key moments.

As for the rows of floodlights surrounding all but the fourth wall, their significance will not only become clear as the play progresses, they will have even those who’ve seen All My Son umpteen times experiencing its shocker of a final twist as if for the very first time.

Disappearing into the character’s Midwestern skin, a never-better Foxworth gives Joe Keller the affability that has made him as likable around town as he is a powerful factory boss, so much so that when sins are revealed, the effect is all the more devastating, particularly when confronted by a son who has spent his entire life idolizing his god of a father.

A spectacular Auberjonois matches Foxworth every step of the way, taking Kate from comforting warmth to determined ice when the moment calls for it, and her final scene with the terrific Grondin, who gives Chris boy-next-door charm and an idealist’s heart, is as heart-wrenching and gut-punching as it gets.

Clair is pretty-on-the-outside/steel-within perfection as Ann, and though he has just one scene in Act Two, you simply can’t take your eyes off Yapujian’s on-the-edge-of-a-breakdown George.

Johnny Patrick Yoder and Erin Pineda provide light-hearted relief from the drama around them as neighborhood happy couple Frank and Lydia Lubey, and child actor Aarush Mehta proves such a charmer as “Sheriff” Joe’s “deputy” Bert, he earns a round of much deserved exit applause. (Brooklyn Bao alternates with him in the role.)

Last but not least, the production is richer for Nguyen’s imagining of a 1947 American Midwest where an African-American couple might live next door to the Kellers, and Bryan Keith’s abandoned-dreams Jim and a particularly memorable Cherish Monique Duke’s take-no-sass Sue Bayless are the production’s stealth weapons.

Wendell C. Carmichael’s period-and-place-perfect costumes, Jeff Gardner’s powerhouse original sound and music design, and John McElveney’s just-right props are all topnotch, and ShinShin Yuder Tsai’s fight choreography is quite possibly the most gut-punching I’ve seen in an All My Sons.

Tsai is assistant director and intimacy coordinator. Talya Camras is production stage manager and Jessica Osorio is assistant stage manager.

I write so many reviews each month, I try to adhere to a set word length for plays and a somewhat longer one for musicals, but All My Son’s Antaeus Theatre Company debut is so magnificent a take on my all-time favorite American play, you’ll excuse me for having gone way overboard this time. That’s how much this All My Sons is a must-see among must-sees.

Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center, 110 East Broadway, Glendale. Through March 30. See website for detailed performance schedule.
www.Antaeus.org

–Steven Stanley
February 28, 2026
Photos: Craig Schwartz

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, The Antaeus Company