Written by orange• November 6, 2024• 5:52 pm• Laguna beach, Laguna Playhouse, Review, Theater, Uncategorized

A View from the Bridge @ Laguna Playhouse – Review

.PHOTO CREDIT: Jason Niedle/TETHOS

Written by Patrick Chavis

A View from the Bridge is playing now at Laguna Playhouse from October 30 – November 17, 2024.

Laguna Playhouse brings back the Arthur Miller classic, A View from the Bridge, with a top-tier production and cast that was nothing less than masterful.

Story:

A View from the Bridge follows the character of Eddie Carbone, an Italian American with Sicilian heritage who lives and works near the docks in Red Hook, Brooklyn, sometime in the 1950s. Eddie (Richard Baird) lives with his wife Beatrice (Margot White) and his orphaned niece Catherine (Marie Zolezzi), who has lived with them most of her life. Eddie’s cousins from Sicily, young, blonde, and handsome Rodolpho (Coby Rogers) and stern and confident Marco (Lowell Byers) come over on a boat illegally to find work in America because Sicily was very poor and had few job prospects at the time. Tensions rise when Rodolpho falls for his cousin-in-law Catherine.

Direction:

If done correctly, this play has palatable tension. I had to fan myself off multiple times at the theater with my playbill. As a person who goes to the theater often, I know the playbill has multiple uses—one for reading about the show and the cast, right? But second, it’s a nifty fan for intense moments, and plenty of them are in this show. Third and possibly the most important, if you curl up your playbill, it acts as a telescope for looking at the stage from a distance. There is a fourth use that is also very important; I will mention that in a later review.

It’s a powder keg of a play from the first act into the second act. And then it’s made richer with brilliant writing from Miller. With so much subtext going on between the characters, the direction from David Ellenstein and the acting from the cast make every moment crystal clear but also incredibly intriguing.

Acting/Set/Costume Design:

Richard Baird’s performance as Eddie is never static. It’s hard to pen down, but it’s an amalgamation—love, pain, and hurt all seething out of this man. In certain scenes, it looked like his cheeks would rip apart from his mouth. It works because you are never unsure about the struggle Eddie is dealing with, and Baird displays this more than eloquently.

The set design from Marty Burnett consists of a humble but lived-in wooden house design accented almost surreally with a bluish sky background and over the top a railing you might typically see holding up a bridge. Most likely, it literally alludes to the Brooklyn Bridge, as the play is set in Red Hook, Brooklyn. There’s so much symbolism that can be attached to the Bridge, but with respect to briefness, this is a review, not a term paper analysis. Besides it being a connection point from an old culture or country to a new culture and country, it also acts as a vantage point, a view as it may to watch these worlds collide.

Elisa Benzoni’s costume design is flawless in its period accuracy, working-man aesthetics, and choice of flannel-printed shirts and skirts. The costumes are never too primped and clean but are a little scuffled like the characters.

Coby Roger’s (Rodolpho) gentle accent and fun-loving attitude translate quite effectively through Roger’s performance. I watched Marie Zolezzi’s (Catherine’s) heartbreak on stage as her innocence left her face. The joy she displayed after small looks from Roger. She elevated the performance of everyone around her.

Lowell Byer’s performance brought quiet confidence and an honorable demeanor, which was a great counterpoint to Eddie’s often angry and conflicted style for much of the play.

There is no need for a bridge. Take a seat at the Laguna Playhouse. The view is exquisite.