When the Great Depression cost his family their fortune, Victor Franz gave up his dream of an education to support his father. Three decades later, Victor has returned to his childhood home to sell the remainder of his parents' estate. His wife, his estranged brother, and the wily furniture dealer hired to appraise their possessions all arrive with their own agendas, forcing Victor to confront a question, long-stifled, about the value of his sacrifice.
One of the most personal plays by the consummate voice of the American everyman, Arthur Miller's The Price is a riveting story about the struggle to make peace with the past and create hope for the future. Steppenwolf co-founder Terry Kinney (reasons to be pretty) directs.
DeVito is offering a spectacularly funny performance in director (and Steppenwolf Theatre co-founder) Terry Kinney's resonant if not wholly satisfying Broadway revival of, to my mind, one of Miller's bleakest and most personal plays. Consider the trajectory of the most sympathetic character, a police officer named Victor Franz, as played in this Roundabout Theatre production by Mark Ruffalo, an actor who specializes in low-status characters with natural affinities for sadness and for whom snapping out of something is pretty much an impossibility.
Ruffalo is likable, honest and direct, more plebeian than the other Victors I have seen (although I did not see Pat Hingle, who had already left the original production before I got there). Shalhoub, the former TV actor who has demonstrated his stage-worthiness with searing performances in Golden Boy and Act One, is a marvel as the successful brother. Walter almost sheens with success, on the surface; but the actor from the first allows us to see the depths that work beneath. Shalhoub can express his character's psychology by simply buttoning and unbuttoning his suit jacket; by play's end, he is gnawing at his fingernails.
1979 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2017 | Broadway |
Roundabout Theatre Company Broadway Revival Broadway |
2019 | West End |
West End Revival West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2017 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Featured Actor in a Play | Danny DeVito |
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Danny DeVito |
2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Danny DeVito |
2017 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | The Price |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Danny DeVito |
2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | The Price |
2017 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Danny DeVito |
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