Old Globe stages West Coast premiere of Miller's new satire 'Resurrection Blues'

By: BILL FARK - For the North County Times | Wednesday, March 17, 2004 12:01 PM PST ∞

A new work by Arthur Miller attracts the cream of theater artists, all eager to be associated with America's most honored and renowned living playwright. This is true for Miller's latest, "Resurrection Blues," which opens in previews Saturday at the Old Globe.

Mark Lamos, former artistic director of the Hartford Stage Company, directs, and the two male leads are played by two men well-known to television audiences: John de Lancie, who was "Q" on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and Daniel Davis, who played Niles the butler on "The Nanny" for six seasons.

During a recent rehearsal break, Lamos talked about the play and phases of his career.

"I wanted to direct the piece because I wanted to work with Arthur Miller again. I performed in his 'The Creation of the World and Other Business' 30 years or so ago, and I've always remembered the thrill of the experience. Miller has been unfairly pigeon-holed as a 'naturalistic' writer because of 'Death of a Salesman,' which is not altogether naturalistic. He was influenced by Elia Kazan. And he doesn't always write in the same style. 'All My Sons' is Ibsen-like. And when I saw 'The Archbishop's Ceiling,' I thought it could have been written by a European, someone like Vaclav Havel."

Lamos describes the 88-year-old Miller's "Resurrection Blues" ---- which premiered at Minneapolis' Guthrie Theatre in 2002 ---- as a satire.

The play is contemporary, set in an unnamed South American country that is beset with environmental, economic and political problems. A young, idealistic revolutionary, who goes by many different names, and whom many people believe to be the next Messiah, threatens to upset the military regime. When he is caught, the dictator General Felix Barriaux (played by de Lancie) sentences him to death by crucifixion and sells the exclusive television rights of his execution to an American network.

This upsets several people, especially the common people, who believe in the young man. Others who object are Felix's cousin, amateur philosopher Henri Schulz (played by Davis), heir to a pharmaceutical fortune; and his suicidal daughter Jeanine, a very close associate of the condemned man. Adding to the confusion are the Americans ---- the television producer and the female director ---- and a drug addict prisoner who is another close associate of the revolutionary. In the midst of the arguments, the prisoner disappears, leaving everyone to reconsider what he meant to them.

Another reason Lamos is enjoying this assignment is his preference for directing contemporary plays.

"I've done so many classics (including 14 Shakespeare plays, plus a series of Ibsen dramas), setting them in different periods and locales, that I've run out of ideas. I prefer to work with living writers. I like the thrill of doing a new work."

The Old Globe has offered him opportunities to do just that. Last season, he directed the Globe's epic production of "Pentecost," for which he won the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award for best direction. Before that at the Globe, he directed "Compleat Female Stage Beauty." He is now represented on Broadway with "Big Bill," A.R. Gurney's new play about tennis legend Bill Tilden.

Lamos has also added opera to his directing resume. Among the pieces he has directed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York are new productions of "Wozzeck," "I Lombardi" and the world premiere of John Harbison's "The Great Gatsby."

"I enjoy working with singers," he said, "but I prepare the production in a different way. Some singers take better to psychological directions, others to gestural. They also take direction from the conductor. One great plus is that they already know their lines, what they're going to sing, often from having performed the piece innumerable times before."

Lamos' fondness for new challenges has taken him to Europe. He was the first American director invited to work in the former Soviet Union. He staged "Desire Under the Elms" at the Pushkin Theatre in Moscow. He recalled the experience with enthusiasm.

"It was very, very interesting. A wonderful period. I was fascinated by the Russian people, and working with them was a joy. They were so anxious to work with a foreigner and to learn what I brought from American theater. It was also a little lonely and a bit scary."

Lamos said he is quite happy to be a freelance director. He began his theatrical career as an actor, appearing first in Chicago, then in regional theaters, including the Old Globe. He played the title role in "Hamlet" here, a production directed by artistic director Jack O'Brien.

He has also held the Algur H. Meadows Chair in Performing Arts at Southern Methodist University, lectured at Yale University, and for 17 seasons was artistic director of the Hartford Stage Company.

"I wouldn't do that again," he declared, "unless it was a special situation, and it would have to be pretty special. I didn't enjoy the work of running an organization or the responsibility. I enjoy being a freelance director."

"Resurrection Blues" has a cast of seven. Dana Slamp plays Jeanine, with Bruce Bohne as Stanley, another associate of the Messianic dissident. Jennifer Regan plays Emily Shapiro, the director of the television special that will feature the execution by crucifixion, and Chris Henry Coffey plays Skip Cheeseboro, the television producer. The Messiah figure is not portrayed by an actual actor but sometimes is represented by a beam of light.

The technical staff includes Globe associate artist Lewis Brown as costume designer. Riccardo Hernandez is scenic designer, with lighting by York Kennedy and sound by Paul Peterson.

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