The Great Migration informs a stark and stunning ‘Death of a Salesman’
Welcome to Curtain Call, our mostly queer take on the latest openings on Broadway and beyond.One of Arthur Miller’s most-produced plays returns for a limited engagement after its acclaimed London revival.
This production of Death of a Salesman marks the play’s sixth Broadway incarnation, but the first time its central characters — the Lohman family — have reflected the experience of the Black community.
Adding layers of socioeconomic and racial tension, director Miranda Cromwell captures Willy Lohman’s memory-bending journey as he succumbs to the unraveling of the American Dream.Wendell Pierce (The Wire, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan) and Sharon D Clarke star as the long-married couple Willy and Linda Lohman with a stellar supporting cast that position Death of a Salesman at the epicenter of the first wave of the Great Migration in which a total of more than six million Black people from the South relocated to cities in the North, Midwest, and West.Related: In american (tele)visions, the American Dream becomes a nightmareThe deeply researched and thoughtfully framed production includes additional program notes by Arminda Thomas and an online study guide.
The valuable tools provide historical context for Willy and Linda’s 1924 home purchase in Brooklyn, New York, and the 25-year mortgage that hangs over their heads like Anna Fleischle’s scenic design, which consists of a sparse collection of suspended furniture that descends when needed.
