Arthur Miller's first play, The Man Who Had All the Luck, written when he was twenty-five, truly shows the promise of the great writer he became. We see the seeds of his marvelous Death of a Salesman in a failing father who has false ambitions for one of his two sons. The conflicts are more blatant, but the power was there in this play, full of drama, anguish, even some humor and melodrama. And what an interesting problem: what goes on inside a man who is lucky in all of his endeavors? How does that affect him and those around him?
Director Scott Ellis' cast is uneven: Chris O'Donnell, the lead, has the nervous habit of actors new to the big stage: he does a stutter/stammer at the beginning of each paragraph, but he does come through in the emotional scenes near the end. I particularly like David Wohl, Sam Robards and Mason Adams.
The flat barn-like set, by Allen Moyer, doesn't quite work, especially when it becomes a living room. The play stands on its own as rather good theater, regardless of who wrote it or when. It's definitely worth a look.
