Cheap All My Sons (L.A. Theatre Works Audio Theatre Collection) (Book) (Arthur Miller) Price

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Customer Reviews of All My Sons (L.A. Theatre Works Audio Theatre Collection)

'they are all my sons'
I have noted in a review of Death of A Salesman that Arthur Miller had a good ear for the foibles and traumas besetting the ordinary people of the old middle class, here upper middle class, put up against the wall in a world that was dramatically changing after World War II. The difference between success and failure is sometimes very close. As we know Willie Loman did not make it. In the final analysis Joe Keller the `hero' of this play does not make it either. <
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>Here Miller gets to take a peek at the strivings, legal and illegal, of a small time capitalist, Keller, who in the afterglow of success via lucrative government war contracts is confronted with exposure and ruin. That his factory's `shoddy' work may have contributed to own his son's death in war and that a co-conspirator in his governmental dealings, his partner, is slated to be the fall guy only add to the moral tension of the drama. Is this Arthur Miller's best drama? No, Death of a Salesman is the one that will stand throughout the ages. Nonetheless this is a thought provoking look at a modern moral dilemma concerning personal responsibility in a maddeningly impersonal world and deserves a read. <
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Betrayal and Denial
Betrayal and denial run rampant through Arthur Miller's play, All My Sons. This play brings to light the effects of war profiteering on those who participated in it, as well as those who benefited from it. Miller's first successful play, All My Sons is a precursor to his most famous work, Death of a Salesman, both of which deal heavily with the relationship between father and son. The play is in three acts, the first of which serves as an introduction to the Keller family and their neighbors. As the play progresses, the action heats up and the consequences of the characters' actions are revealed. <
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>World War II has been over for a few years and the Keller family is still adjusting back into their normal lives. The family consists of Joe and Kate Keller and their son, Chris. Larry, the other son, was reported missing 3 years earlier, but Kate refuses to believe that her precious son is dead. Larry's fiancée, Ann, is staying with the Keller's because Chris hopes to marry her. <
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>The trouble really begins when Ann's brother, George Deever, comes to take Ann away and prevent her from marrying Chris. Although George and Ann grew up with the Kellers, George harbors deep resentment towards Joe Keller. During the war, Joe's manufacturing plant made alot money by selling airplane parts to the Army. One day, Steve Deever, George's father, made a batch of defective parts. The parts were sent out anyways and both Steve and Joe were sent to jail, but Joe was not convicted and went home free. George believes that Joe was the one who told Steve to ship the defective parts. Whose fault is it that twenty one pilots died because of the parts and what does it have to do with Larry Keller? <
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>This play reveals the seedy events that occur during wartime and the never ending pursuit of the American Dream. Sixty years after it was written, All My Sons remains relevant today in both its themes and entertainment value. <
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A conflicting emotional drama
A challenging aspect within great literature plays is to find out why the title was named so, whether the title is hidden metaphorically or literally. The title for Miller's first successful play, and not as well-knows as Death of a Salesman, derives from a line "they were all my sons", when the main character, Joe Keller, refers to the twenty-one P40 pilots killed because his company knowingly shipped out cracked cylinder heads. <
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>Although sent to prison for 14 months, he was exonerated, because he shifted the blame to his worker, Herb Deever, who still sits in prison. <
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>The emotional drama is lengthy and considered in the book series Best American Plays from 1945-1951 edited by John Gassner. The themes run gamut from family, employment, greed, betrayal, denial, lies, anguish and most of all, responsibility. The plot evolves, a twist here, and a turn there! Pain, sorrow and confusion permeate the mood. And like Miller's plays, there are lengthy emotional monologues. <
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>Set in the back yard of a home in an American town, it takes place in one long night and it opens as family keeps remarking on the tree planted for their 27 year-old son Larry, missing-in-action for 2 years, and some presume him dead. The broken tree keeps popping up throughout conversations as it is symbolic of the demise of the family. <
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>The night the tree breaks, the chain of action begins. Larry's girlfriend Anne is expected to come back to town, but now, she is about to marry Chris Keller, the other brother. The tension & conflict arises because, once childhood neighbors to the Kellers, Anne and her brother, George, now an attorney, are the children of the man, Herb Deever, the one who was forced to take the blame for the death of twenty-one pilots. <
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>Like most plays, they are always better than the movie versions, (if any). If you see an exact play performed, then it is worth it. ......But the books are always better....MzRizz <
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>I recommend two excellent Miller plays: <
>[[ASIN:0140481354 A View from the Bridge (Penguin Plays)]]: <
>[[ASIN:014048194X The Price (Penguin Plays)]] <
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