In Jewish playwright Arthur Miller’s world, if you ratted someone out to the authorities, your reputation would sink. On “The Sopranos,” if you were a mafia man talking to the feds, your body could end up in the river.
Ray Abruzzo, who appeared in 16 episodes of “The Sopranos” as Little Carmine Lupertazzi, said there is one similarity and several differences between his mobster character and Eddie Carbone, the character he plays in Miller’s “A View From The Bridge” opening August 18, presented by The Ruskin Group.
“The idea of betrayal and rats are certainly dominating in both societies,” Abruzzo said. “But Eddie works in an animalistic nature, whereas Little Carmine tries to intellectualize. Even if he uses the wrong words, his views of the situation are always correct, like his idea that Johnny Sack (New York underboss of the Lupertazzi crime family) is too greedy and he is sensitive to personal issues, or when A.J. (Tony’s son) tries to commit suicide. Eddie is more transactional and has visceral reactions.”
“A View From The Bridge” tells the story of Eddie, a 1950’s Brooklyn man who has lost desire for his wife, Beatrice, (Kim Chase) and has a troubling attraction to his niece, Catherine, played by Aurora Leonard. At the behest of his wife, Eddie allows Marco and Rodolpho (Jesse Janzen and Brandon Lill) to stay in his home despite the fact they have illegally come from Italy. Angered by the fact that Catherine and Rodolpho begin to date, Eddie consults his lawyer, Alfieri, (Sal Viscuso) who advises him not to take drastic measures. Eddie doesn’t heed the advice. He implies Rodolpho is gay, saying he “ain’t right” and when that doesn’t work, he does something that causes big ramifications.
In a key scene, Eddie is play-boxing with Rodolpho and, according to stage directions, “mildly staggers” him,. (In previews of the 2010 Broadway production with Liev Schreiber as Eddie and Santino Fontana as Rodolpho, Schreiber accidentally gave Fontana what was called “a minor concussion.”)
“I’m very conscious of that,” Abruzzo said of avoiding injury. “On stage, as an actor, I’ve always been intrigued at how if we’re angry, we’re not playing angry. The veins pop out of our necks, our faces get red and we’re crying tears that flow. So, the emotions are real, but there’s a part of your brain saying you can’t really hit him and safety is really important. When punches are thrown, we’re careful. Hopefully that (an injury) won’t happen. I’d rather the audience see that I miss him, then actually hit him.”
What was Abruzzo’s biggest challenge in preparing for the role?
“Miller’s language is very specific,” Abruzzo said. “He mixes tenses in the same sentence and has these little asides, so the challenge is just memorizing his words. But once you get them to come out of your mouth, you realize the poetry and the music of them.”
Like the protagonists of Miller’s best known plays —“Death of A Salesman” and “The Crucible,” — Eddie is an everyman with a tragic flaw. He pretends he is a father figure to Catherine and betrays her trust and belief in him.
The play also raises the notion that people cast aspersions on immigrants.
Abruzzo said that those trying to come to America have faced different specific circumstances that can be evaluated separately, there is a common theme of suspicion “from Jews trying to come by boat in 1939 to escape the Nazis, Italians after World War II here these people are, trying to escape the poverty that as brought on by the war, and of course, now, people trying to get into this country and escape horrific conditions. It’s a never-ending thing.”
The climax of “A View From The Bridge” features a showdown between Eddie and Marco.
In his essay, “Tragedy and The Common Man” Miller wrote: “As a general rule, to which there may be exceptions unknown to me, I think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his own life, if need be, to secure one thing-his sense of personal dignity…”
“A View From The Bridge,” which Miller revised and fleshed out after early productions were not well received, has gone on to win numerous awards, including the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play in 2015 with Ivo van Hove winning the Tony for Best Director.. The Ruskin Group’s production is directed by Mike Reily.
Abruzzo said he is honored to be performing one of Miller’s plays and said in addition to entertaining an audience, theater has the power to make people introspective and reflective, which can lead to personal growth.
“We always hope that as artists we can touch one person with our performance and get them to go home and think a little differently,” he said.
“A View From The Bridge” is in previews August 16 and 17 and opens on August 18, running until October 8.
