Memo from the RTC: Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge Opening Sept. 21

For The Wave, Sept. 21 edition

Memo from the RTC: Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge Opening Sept. 21

By Norm Scott

After months of preparation the Rockaway Theatre Company of the Frank Caiati directed  production of “Bridge” is opening September 21 for nine performances over three weekends. Written by one of America’s great playwrights, Arthur Miller,  the story is set in the 1950’s in a working class Italian American neighborhood of Brooklyn within sight of the Brooklyn Bridge. The docks of pre-Ikea gritty Red Hook is pretty much the prototype.

I checked on Arthur Miller’s biography (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller). He was born in 1915 (died in 2005) to a wealthy Jewish family in Harlem that lost all its money in the 1929 depression and moved to Gravesend Brooklyn where he graduated from Abraham Lincoln HS.

Being lazy, let me jump to the Wikipedia description of the play.

“…. an I near the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. It employs a chorus and narrator in the character of Alfieri. Eddie, the tragic protagonist, has an improper love of, and almost obsession with, Catherine, his wife Beatrice's orphaned niece, so he does not approve of her courtship of Beatrice's cousin Rodolpho. Miller's interest in writing about the world of the New York docks originated with an un-produced screenplay that he developed with Elia Kazan in the early 1950s (entitled The Hook) that addressed corruption on the Brooklyn docks. Kazan later directed On the Waterfront, which dealt with the same subject. Miller said that he heard the basic account that developed into the plot of A View from the Bridge from a lawyer who worked with longshoremen, who related it to him as a true story.”  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_View_from_the_Bridge

Scarlett Johansson won a Tony in a 2010 Broadway revival for the role of Catherine and Mark Strong was nominated for best actor in the 2015 revival. I’ve never seen the play, nor do I know very much about it other than the above. I do know, as I’ve been reporting, that Frank as a certain vision, as witnessed by the poster of the upside down Brooklyn Bridge and the daring set with the tilted stage.

The serious dramas at the RTC are too often overlooked by some of the regular audiences who love to attend musicals.  On the Waterfront is one of my favorite movies and there are echoes and historical antecedents in this play.

One more reason to see the play is to answer these burning questions:
Can Miller, an intellectual left-oriented Jewish writer effectively capture the working class Italian-American experience? Can Frank, an Italian-American 30-something director/actor/scenic designer/set builder capture the essence of Miller’s work 60 years after it was first written?

You are invited to A View From the Bridge

The Rockaway Theatre Company Proudly Presents

A Great American Drama

SHOWTIMES

September 21st, 22nd, 28th, 29th, October 5th & 6th at 8pm

Matinees September 23rd, 30th & October 7th at 2pm

Tickets may be purchased on our website

www.rockawaytheatrecompany.org

Ticket Prices:

Adults $20.00

Seniors/Children $15.00

**Please Note: Online ticket purchases close 48 hours prior to the date of each show, but tickets are still available for purchase, at our box office, one hour prior to showtime.

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