Photo by Joan Marcus

The 1968 play is now being honoured with its fourth Broadway revival and although much of the buzz around the production is centred around the A-List cast members, Miller's story is so relatable, I'm sure The Price will be warranted for many a Broadway revival to come. Most of us have had to make sacrifices in our lives and the play forces us to confront the price of those sacrifices and the tensions they may have resulted among family and friends. The play's protagonist, Victor Franz, gave up his dreams of an education after the Great Depression and stayed at home to support his father some thirty years ago. His brother Walter, on the other hand, left and forged a successful career as a doctor. 16 years after the father's death, the brothers finally meet at their childhood home, along with Victor's wife Esther and a wily dealer named Gregory Solomon, to appraise the furniture left behind. Whilst all four characters try to exert their own agenda on the proceedings, the inevitability of old wounds being ripped open is too great to ignore. In an attempt to exorcise the family demons, tensions mount and eventually explode in this truly captivating sibling rivalry.

Now onto the cast... I'm not sure if you heard but three-time Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo is taking a break from Hulk-smashing his opponents in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and returning to the Great White Way for the first time since his Tony-nominated performance in Awake and Sing! over a decade ago. He succeeds as the cornerstone of this production, effortlessly portraying an everyman, who is instantly empathetic. We sense the burden of a hard, struggle of a lifetime through his physicality and demeanour. Ruffalo is simply delightful in a calculatingly understated performance. The thundering ball of energy on the stage, in contrast, comes from the instantly recognisable minute stature of one Danny DeVito as Gregory Solomon. What a joy it is to see this Hollywood Heavyweight make his Broadway debut. His interactions with Ruffalo's character are theatrical gold. As Solomon weaves his canny dealer magic, so too does DeVito leave us spellbound and hanging on all his sporadic interjections into the ongoing family feud. These two greats are supported by stage veteran and "Monk" star Tony Shalhoub as the equally damaged brother Walter, who commands the stage with a sovereign performance of both assurance and fragility in equal measure, and Jessica Hecht, whose portrayal of Esther is deceptively soft until she asserts herself as a mediator fuelled by her own desperate desires. The Roundabout Theatre Company has truly managed to assemble a dream cast and it was a privilege to witness them tell this simple, yet profound, story of individuals debating the price of furniture whilst confronting the price of their past decisions.

The set is gorgeously designed by Derek McLane, with overspills of furniture hanging from the ceiling as if about to crash down on the characters below, who are still suffering from the symbolic weight of the life that furniture represents. Ominous lighting design is provided by David Weiner, with just a shred of light from the roof window to represent the hope for the future outside of these walls, exuded by each of the four characters.

Arthur Miller is a story-teller of the greatest acclaim and all the components of this production have come together exquisitely, so that this story be told once more to a willing audience. All that is left to say is come on down to the American Airlines Theatre because The Price is definitely right!

Click here for tickets to Arthur Miller's The Price for performances through to May 14, 2017 at Broadway's American Airlines Theatre.

- by Tom Millward