Review: African American cast lifts powerful 'All My Sons'

With so much Philly Fringe activity happening in the city right now, what could possibly entice theatergoers out to the suburbs for People's Light's regular season opener, particularly if that show is Arthur Miller's

All My Sons

? It's a great drama, sure, and a fine tribute to the centenary of Miller's birth

, but it's hardly uncharted territory.

However, for audiences who saw Kamilah Forbes' direction of August Wilson's Fences last season, the answer is obvious. Bringing back much of that cast, Forbes reframes Miller's classic tale of the American dream-turned-nightmare as a near companion piece to former New York Times culture critic Margo Jefferson's new memoir, Negroland. This African American cast brings to life the tightly proscribed culture of a rising postwar black middle class, secreting away the shameful, swallowing its pain, accepting nothing less than achievement, or overachievement.

There's something so powerful - and rare - about seeing in the play's first act black families living, socializing, and working on their own terms, without interference from white society. The undercurrents are there, in patriarch Joe Keller's fear of losing a government contract, or neighbor Frank's optimistic, "Maybe I too can get to be president."

During its second act, when the dream collapses, Forbes goes deep into the characters' psychology, highlighting the flimsy facades of Troy Hourie's set, with its two-dimensional homes, and the beauty of Marla Jurglanis' just-so costumes, bright as the spring flowers that lie scattered behind them, the result of a violent storm.

The cast includes Michael Genet as Joe, Melanye Finister as his long-suffering wife, Kate, Ruffin Prentiss as their surviving veteran son, Chris, and G. Alvarez Reid and Brian Anthony Wilson as neighbors Frank and Dr. Jim.

Finister gives one of the strongest performances I've seen from her, simmering until she finally boils over. She's a fine anchor for Genet's manic energy and Prentiss' all-American confidence and charm.

Also outstanding: Margaret Ivey as Ann, Chris' brother's sweetheart before he went missing in action. She's as temperate and radiant as her brother George (the fantastic Akeem Davis) is defeated and disheveled. In his ill-fitting suit and slumped shoulders, he carries a whiff of the Williams or O'Neill antihero. It seems the classics of the 20th-century stage aren't quite finished speaking to us.

All My Sons

Presented by People's Light, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, through Oct. 4. Tickets: $27-$79. Information: 610-644-3500 or www.PeoplesLight.orgEndText