Anthony LaPaglia Books

This play is way too sophisticated for my tastes. I am only half-way through it and I am only going to reach the end because I am the kind of obsessive-compulsive individual who must finish a book or a movie or an audio book once I start them. I do violate this rule once in a while, but this play is too short to resist...

Anyway, I think LA Theater Works is a FANTASTIC publisher and I love most of the many plays of theirs I have listened to, but this one is above my head. I find the actors truly outstanding, but the story and the dialog are broken and confusing. Once in a while a short sequence will hit me as meaningful and compelling, but usually this is in the midst of other rather obscure dialog or monologues.

I have loved all other plays by Arthur Miller I have listened to so far, so I guess I just do not like this form or disconnected high-brow semi-autobiographical story telling. I really do not want to be dismissive. I can believe that there is much more to this play than what *I* can understand, but I just don't get it.

Enthralled by Anthony LaPaglia drawl and Amy Brennemann's squeaky blonde (I know, it sounds strange but it's really all there), I loved these CDs. The brilliant text of Arthur Miller is brought to life. Rarely put on, this story of man, searching for himself and for a woman he will not repeat the same mistakes with, is fascinating and sad. It's also disturbing and moving that an author should commit to paper, and thusly to posterity and for everyone to read, his own questions and failings. Because the line is terribly thin. Miller shows at the seams of every scene. It's him fighting with Marylin, it's him redeaming God know what past... It's good. Try it.

Having read most of Miller's previous work, I hold it to a high standard. "After the Fall" shows many of the simmilarities of his other works. Unlike the other ones, he is symbolically the main character here. In this work, Miller writes a cathartic explanation of his life including two failed marriages, one to Marilyn Monroe. Rather than entertaining, it comes off as rather unsettling.

The main character, Quentin narrates to the audience in the show. He is viewing his past as the various people in his life appear in a sequence of events. Through his childhood, we see hints of the origins of the problems the character faces, such as a manipulative mother. This seems to be the justification he uses for failed relationships. By Holga being the last character we see, it seems that he is insinuating that he should have never left his first wife. At the same time, he clears himself of any fault in the demise of Maggie (the veiled symbol for Marilyn Monroe).

In reality, there was a lot going on in the play. Perhaps it was even too busy. But even more worrisome is Miller's use of the stage to justify or rationalize his life. I love Miller's work. This play, which was intended to be disturbing, is disturbing in a way which Miller could have intended. It is one play the work could have gone without.

Arthur Miller's After the Fall is a highly autobiographical account told by a man named Quentin who has suffered through a difficult family life, two marriages, and the McCarthy Trials. It is depicted artistically by freely flowing from scene to scene with no regard to time or location, but the artistry in the continuity does not make up for the dullness of the overall story. The play reads as if this man is in a therapy session describing the painfully dull events of his life. He explains his shaky family relationships along with minor events from his childhood, his nagging first wife Louise and the attractive neighbor who made him start to think disloyally, and the struggles of co-workers faced with deciding between integrity and their careers. Although these events might seem like they could be earth-shattering, especially the McCarthy bit, Miller manages to drain them of any excitement or intrigue.

The bright spot in the play is Maggie, a highly self destructive but free spirited girl who becomes Quentin's second wife. Though when I first read the play, I had no idea of the connection, Maggie is Miller's interpretation of Marilyn Monroe. This is the sole reason that anyone who is not a fan of Miller's work would want to read this play; one gains insight into how immature and below him Miller considered Monroe to be.

If you are interested in Arthur Miller outside of his relationship with Marilyn Monroe, you might enjoy this book. If you are interested in the human mind and the way experiences shape a person, you have a slight chance of enjoying this book. If you are looking for a story with a rising action, a climax, and a fall, you probably will hate this play.

Arthur Miller, having divorced actress Marilyn Monroe and married photographer Inge Morath, and in the aftermath of Monroe's still-controversial death, wrote this as part catharsis and part explanation of the recent events in his past. Treating Monroe as it does, it inspired a groundswell of revulsion for Miller that after forty years has not fully abated.

Nonetheless, this is a fascinating work that on its own merits has some appeal.