All My Sons
Written by Arthur Miller
Narrated by Julie Harris, James Farentino and Full Cast
4/5
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About this audiobook
At the heart of All My Sons lies a scathing criticism of the American Dream. After its publication Arthur Miller was called to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he famously refused to give evidence against others.
Tony Award Winner for Best Author (1947)
AudioFile Magazine review: “One of the strengths of L.A. Theatre Works is their skill at selecting quality plays previously unavailable on audio. Arthur Miller’s 1947 breakthrough play is at once a postwar family drama, an indictment of false societal values and a searing tragedy. James Farentino plays businessman Joe Keller with a gruff bluster that sometimes masks a sacrificial love for his son Chris (Arye Gross), an idealist home from the war. Julie Harris, as the mother, Kate, is alternately needy, demanding, lovingly solicitous and willfully blind to the past. The live responses of the audience underscore the touches of humor that season the early acts of this landmark American drama.”
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring James Farentino, Arye Gross, Julie Harris, Mitchell Hebert, Naomi Jacobson, Barbara Klein, Paul Morella, Michaeleen O'Neil, Nathan Taylor and Jerry Whiddon.
Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller was born in New York City in 1915. After graduating from the University of Michigan, he began work with the Federal Theatre Project. His first Broadway hit was All My Sons, closely followed by Death of a Salesman, The Crucible and A View from the Bridge. His other writing includes Focus, a novel; The Misfits, first published as a short story, then as a cinema novel; In Russia, In the Country, Chinese Encounters (all in collaboration with his wife, photographer Inge Morath) and 'Salesman' in Beijing, non-fiction; and his autobiography, Timebends, published in 1987. Among his other plays are: Incident At Vichy, The Creation of the World and Other Business, The American Clock, The Last Yankee, and Resurrection Blues. His novella, Plain Girl, was published in 1995 and his second collection of short stories, Presence, in 2007. He died in February 2005 aged eighty-nine.
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Reviews for All My Sons
294 ratings12 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I like this audiobook very much. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in a work by a playwright who believed that "“writing a worthy play” was comparable “to saving a life—it was one of the most important things a human being could do.” (Nora Titone, Court Theatre, THE GENESIS OF ALL MY SONS)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5LA Theatre Works really has a quality set of audio plays! I’ve been moving through them one by one and it’s like I’m watching a movie! Excellent!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5the writing style, with natural dialogues like real people actually talk to each other really helps set the mood. It really sucked me into the play with realistic people and principles. it really shows that it's not always black and white in the world. during the end of the play, i was holding my breath. This conflict that this family had tried to bury so deep into the ground all these years was seeping through the ground, clawing its way out-messily.
The plot twists and the ending really puts me into perspective.
A really great play with great characters. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a good listen well acted. As a newbie to Miller’s plays I recommend this.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The actors are wonderful, the play gives so much life to it, but I just cannot get into the plot
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very beautiful, nice to read, after a long time read this type of write up. Really amazing.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A wonderful drama ... not the type that makes you want to kill yourself with in-your-face angst, but a slowly unfolding multi-layered beauty of a piece.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I absolutely loved this play. I had to read Death of a Salesman for school and instantly fell in love with Miller's style. After such great works as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, I wasn't sure how All My Sons would measure up, especially after reading mixed reviews about it. But I think this is an excellent and timeless play. Although I only got to know the characters for a short time, my heart was burning for them by the end and the final scene took my breath away. It is truly a great read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5what happened in the end has Keller killed himself ? -_-
In this play you would start questioning different values of the society and the fairness of the society as the criminal is outside while an innocent man is in prison! Going deep inside the event, you might notice that Keller is not that much guilty because he is the product of his society; he is a victim to his society because this is what he has been taught. So, society victimizes its citizens by a set of corrupt values it taught. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Larry Keller is a WWII pilot has been MIA for a few years. What remains are the ingredients for an American Tragedy: Larry's mother who refuses to believe that her son is dead; Larry's father, Joe Keller, who was accused, but eventually cleared of wrongdoing for the crime of manufacturing and distributing faulty airplane parts during the war; Chris Keller, who lives in the shadow of his brother; Steve Deever, Joe's business partner who is serving time for the crime Joe was exonerated for; George Deever, Steve's son and; Ann Deever, Steve's daughter (and George's sister,) Larry's childhood sweetheart and, Chris' current love interest.
A tree planted as a memorial or beacon for Larry is struck down in a storm and this triggers a cascade of confrontations in the household that careens towards an ugly truth - a denouement born of grief, sorrow, anger and, resentment. Pathos and angst are wrung out of each scene until there is nothing left but the inevitable razing of individual hopes and a shocking conclusion worthy of a Classic Greek Tragedy.
All My Sons can be a painful play to bear witness to: Souls are laid bare as characters demand to be respected for their principles and motivations, for the persons they are; but are refuted by those closest to them and for whom their ethos has been hewn. Each characters makes a sacrificial offering of their suffering to another, only to be rejected and driven into a psychological corner. But for these same reasons, All My Sons is an important play to experience as well as it exposes the integrity of the foundations of the American Dream. The drive to achieve a manifest destiny is lacerated by the frailties of being human.
Though it is an important play, this particular presentation may not be the best performance. Instead of layering interpretative meaning into the dialog, the lines and monologues are uniformly delivered at a high intensity of rage and bitterness. This is not a play rendered with subtlety or nuance, a point underscored when George arrives at the Keller household for a confrontation. There are accusations and yelling; but all of the sudden George is happy to be back; and then equally as sudden, he back to being enraged. By not providing emotional room for the characters, by constricting the characters to a monotonous fervor, George has no where to go except to appear as momentarily insensible. It is a delicate scene and a challenge for any director; but this ham-fisted approach robs the scene, and one cannot help but suspect the whole play, of its required elegance.
Redacted from the original blog review at dog eared copy, All My Sons; 04/26/2012 - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5"All My Sons" is completely and totally heartbreaking. It continually twists and turns you so that you barely know which direction you're facing, and I found myself absolutely floored in the final scene. Beautiful, beautiful play.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In performance, this has always been one of my all-time favorite pieces by Arthur Miller. I'd never read it before, and I'm currently stage managing a reader's theatre that includes scenes from four different Miller plays, so I decided now was the time to crack the spine of this one. Just as good textually as it is in performance, for sure, and almost definitely my favorite.