![]() ![]() The young writers and actors, O'Neill was dead. In the late 30's and wartime, certainly among But I've lived long enough to see them several times. ![]() ''We don'tĪlways live long enough to see the tides coming in and out. Miller has found himself thinking of Eugene O'Neill, who was in disrepute during Mr. Miller's status in American dramatic history, but they also put in clearer relief ![]() In Peking to last season's acclaimed ''A View From the Bridge'' on Broadway. Meanwhile, revivals of his early plays flourished, from ''Death of a Salesman'' In Israel, the fight to save the Morosco and Helen Hayes theaters from demolition - and has chronicled a trip to China in a book. He has immersed himself in causes - a murder case in Connecticut, the suppression of Russian writers, opposition to the Begin regime Miller has remained active even during periods of critical disfavor. It was the lukewarm critical reception given to ''Two by A.M.,''Ī pair of one-act dramas produced at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, that led Mr. C., in May 1980, only to die afterġ2 performances on Broadway that December, with some critics declaring themselves baffled at how a promising play could have soured so suddenly. His next new work, ''The American Clock,'' received to positive reviews in its premiere at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S. ''The Creation of the World and Other Business,'' his His last critical success, ''The Price,'' opened in 1967. More than one show has not worked for Mr. Because there is the chance it will not work again.'' But to say 'No!' to that, to bring it up again, is very brave. Successful, the first tendency is to stick it in the bottom drawer in your house. In this business, if you do something and it's not received well or is not commercially And that same courage is here - to take a play that got mixed reviews and to come back to it again. Avni, the director of ''Up From Paradise,'' ''for Arthur Miller to pour out his heart about his marriage, about his political ''It took a tremendous amount of courage,'' said Mr. Repertory Theater to produce the play and Ran Avni to direct it because he admired the work they had done in revivals of ''Incident at Vichy'' in 1981 and ''After the Fall'' last I felt, and I still do, that there was a way to do that play - a theatrically fascinating way. Sometimes and I think it's still got its charms. I open up the text of that play (''Creation'') Miller said after a recent rehearsal, ''it's those rejected babies that are very often closest to you. So ''Up From Paradise'' amounts to something of a rehabilitation campaign, whether for critics, audiences or Mr. Opened on Broadway to tepid critical notices and it closed 20 performances later. The director, Harold Clurman, and a star, Barbara Harris, left the play during tryouts the show And theyĪdapted it from ''The Creation of the World and Other Business,'' the troubled 1972 show by Mr. Miller and his composer, Stanley Silverman, have worked on the show over the course of 11 years. Yet there are signs ''Up From Paradise'' is a good deal dearer to its creator than a confection. It as ''an entertainment,'' ''a heavenly cabaret'' and the lighter counterpoint in his personality to the grim concerns evidenced in ''Salesman.'' ''Up from Paradise'' is the first musical Arthur Miller has written, and he variously speaks of Repertory Theater, which occupies part of the second floor of a community center on Fourteenth Street. It is called 'Up From Paradise'' and it will open Tuesday, not on Broadway, not at a major festival, but in the 100-seat theater of the Jewish Talent and his reputation, his newest work nears opening night. Almost in the shadow it casts, the shadow of Mr. Miller's greatest play, and one he wrote when he was barely past 30 - will open on Broadway. Later this season,Ī revival of ''Death of a Salesman'' - perhaps Mr. Tennessee Williams died only months after writing the letter, and in his obituaries the failures of his later life weighed nearly as heavily as the brilliance of his youth. Miller said, ''and that he'd been through it a number of times. ''It was his lovely attempt to tell me the whole damn thing didn't matter,'' Mr. Miller can no longer find the letter - it was misplaced in the frantic clean- up after a fire at his home in May - but the sentiment was not one easily forgotten. Miller got a letter from Tennessee Williams. FREEDMANĪst November, after his two latest plays had failed to impress critics, just as others had failed in the preceding 15 years, Arthur Miller Tries a New Form For an Old Play By SAMUEL G. ![]()
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