Arthur Miller’s First Triumph Arrives in Arvada

“All My Sons” Packs Emotional Wallop

Reviewed by Tom Jones
March 11, 2018

At the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities performance’s conclusion, there were a few seconds of stunned silence before the audience jumped up to provide thunderous applause. The audience was in complete awe and could not immediately respond to the magnificence of the performance.

Arthur Miller was still a struggling playwright when he completed his first success, “All My Sons.” He had decided to abandon writing if that work did not succeed. His worry was unnecessary. Subsequent to the January 1947 opening of “All My Sons,” Miller went on to complete a string of successes including “The Crucible,” “A View from the Bridge,” “Death of a Salesman,” “An Enemy of the People,” “After the Fall,” “Incident at Vichy,” “The Archbishop’s Ceiling,” and “The Price.” He is considered to be among the greatest American playwrights of the 20th Century.

L-R: Emma Messenger (Kate Keller) and Sam Gregory (Joe Keller)
Matt Gale Photography 2018

The characters he created for “Sons,” are on brilliant display this season at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities. Front and center are Sam Gregory and Emma Messenger as Joe and Kate Keller, a couple in their early 60s. Joe’s business has survived the transition from World War II wartime to peacetime. He is an arrogant, confident, and wealthy man. His wife, Kate, has remained in wartime distress of never accepting the possibility that her son, missing in action, may never return.

Pictured L-R: Regina Fernandez (Ann Deever), Abner Genece (Dr. Jim Bayliss), Emma Messenger (Kate Keller), and Lance Rasmussen (Chris Keller). Photo – Matt Gale Photography 2018

The ravages of war have become the ravages of peace where the family appears to be unable to accept the post-war American Dream. Neighbors believe that Joe and his partner overtly provided malfunctioning supplies to the military effort, supplies that ultimately resulted in the deaths of at least 21 pilots. Joe’s partner, and former next-door-neighbor, Mr. Deever, is currently in prison for the crime, whereas Joe claimed innocence and has remained a free man.

He is the father of two sons, Larry, who has never returned from the war, and Chris, who has returned and is working at his father’s business. He is still single and living at home two years after the war ended.

Pictured L-R: Geoffrey Kent (George Deever) and Emma Messenger (Kate Keller). Photo – Matt Gale Photography 2018

Chris has carried on communication with Ann Deever, daughter of the former neighbor who is now in prison. She was Larry’s girlfriend before the war, and Chris is in love with her. He invites her to visit the Keller home with the plan to propose to her. Regina Fernandez and Lance Rasmussen are in excellent form as Chris and Ann, apparently smitten with each other, with neither wanting to confront the past. When Ann’s attorney brother, George, arrives from New York, there is incredible malice in the air – anger on George’s part for the role he believes Joe Keller played, resulting in his own father becoming imprisoned. George is horrified with the idea that his sister may want to marry the son of the man whose actions put their father in jail.

It would be difficult to imagine a cast as talented as those on stage this season at the Arvada Center. The cast is part of the theatre’s current repertory company. They are stunning audiences not only with “All My Sons,” but also in “The Electric Baby” and “Sense and Sensibility.” To add to the amazement is the realization that Lynne Collins directed both “All My Sons” and “Sense and Sensibility” — two plays this season of entirely different focus and genre.

The set is a thought-provoking image of what might be in store for the audience. A home is completely topsy-turvy behind a well-maintained outdoor patio. It is clear that the Keller household may be in complete disarray, while trying to maintain a sunny appearance of normality.

This is a stunning display of incredible talent. It is rare that I am not ready to leave a theatre after two and one half hours. I was in no rush this time, however, as “All My Sons” kept me spellbound. The show is more than about just a family in distress. It touches on themes of guilt and innocence, right and wrong, greed, morality, and actions of those who served in the war and those who chose not to. It comes back to being able to move on, taking responsibility for our own actions.

“All My Sons”
Where: Black Box Theatre, Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities
6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, Arvada, CO 80003-9985
When: Through May 3, 2018
Tickets: 720/898-7200
Online at Arvadacenter.org