A View from the Bridge
Encyclopedia
A View from the Bridge is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller
that was first staged on September 29, 1955 as a one-act verse drama
with A Memory of Two Mondays
at the Coronet Theatre
on Broadway. The play was unsuccessful and Miller subsequently revised the play to contain two acts; this version is the one with which audiences are most familiar today. The two-act version premièred in the New Watergate theatre club
in London's West End
under the direction of Peter Brook
on October 11th 1956.
The play is set in 1950s America, in an Italian American neighborhood near the Brooklyn Bridge
in New York
. It employs both a chorus
and a narrator (Alfieri). Eddie, the tragic
protagonist
, has an improper love of, and almost obsession with, Catherine. Miller's interest in writing about the world of the New York docks
originated with an unproduced screenplay that he developed with Elia Kazan
in the early 1950s (entitled The Hook) that addressed corruption on the Brooklyn docks (Kazan would go on to direct On the Waterfront
, which tackled the same subject). Miller said that he heard the basic account that developed into the plot of A View from the Bridge from a longshoreman, who related it to him as a true story.
longshoreman, who lives with his wife, Beatrice and his orphaned niece, Catherine. As the play begins, Eddie is protective and kind toward Catherine, although his feelings grow into something more than avuncular as the play develops. His attachment to her is brought into perspective by the arrival from Italy
of Beatrice's two cousins, Marco and Rodolpho. They have entered the country illegally, hoping to leave behind hunger and unemployment for a better life in America. Marco is a exceptionally strong man, said by Eddie's friends to be 'a regular bull.' He also has a starving family in Italy (a wife, and 3 sons, one with tuberculosis
). Rodolfo is in his late 20's, fair skinned, blond, and unattached. He is unconventional in that he sings (notably 'paper doll'), dances, is good at sewing and dress making and is also a good cook. Catherine soon begins a relationship with Rodolfo.
After three weeks, the pair have been seeing each other, and Eddie sets about pointing out all of Rodolfo's flaws to Catherine and Beatrice. He persistently complains that Rodolfo is "not right," referring to Rodolfo's effeminate qualities, such as sewing, cooking and singing. He is embarrassed by Rodolffo's reputation for singing during work.
When Catherine decides to marry Rodolfo, Eddie becomes desperate and begs his lawyer, Alfieri (who is also the narrator), to help him. However, he is told that the only way the law is able to help him is if he informs the Immigration Bureau of the presence of the two illegal immigrants. Due to his earlier assertion that "it's an honor" to give the men refuge, he refuses to betray them. At home he continues to passively insult Rodolfo, and ends up getting Rodolpho to fight in a boxing match. In retaliation, Marco challenges Eddie to lift a chair from the bottom of its leg, when Eddie fails to do this, Marco picks up the chair with one hand from the bottom of its leg and lifts it above his head. This demonstrates Marco's superior strength and that he will always be watching over Rodolfo, should Eddie insult him or attack him too much.
In the second Act, Eddie catches Rodolfo kissing Catherine in a bedroom. He then sees Alfieri a second time. Eddie ignores his lawyer's advice to let events run their course, and calls the Immigration Bureau. This betrayal proves disastrous: he comes back to learn that Catherine and Rodolfo are engaged, and Beatrice informs him two more illegal immigrants have moved into the upstairs apartment. Suddenly, the Immigration Officers arrive and shortly arrest the four immigrants. As the detainees are being taken from the tenement, Marco breaks free from the group, "dashes into the room" and spits in Eddie's face. This happens inside Eddie's house – however Eddie's rage is such that he follows Marco out into the street. He berates Marco for the insult, failing to notice that the gathering crowd are growing as one to conclude that Eddie is the traitor. This suspicion is confirmed as Marco singles Eddie out as the one who "killed my children."
Rodolfo is allowed to stay in the country due to his marriage, but Marco faces imminent deportation. Reluctantly, he promises Alfieri not to take revenge on Eddie (as is the Sicilian custom) and is let out on bail. In the final scene of the play, Eddie is shown to be furious with his humiliation and refuses to attend the wedding. He rejects Rodolpho's offer to reconcile and refuses to get out of the house when he learns Marco is arriving.
The play ends with a fight between Eddie and Marco, in a street filled with his friends and family. Eddie brandishes a knife and attacks Marco, who turns the blade onto Eddie, killing him. It is not known whether Marco actually intended to stab Eddie, and his reaction is not described. Eddie dies as the curtain falls, calling out to Beatrice.
version of A View from the Bridge opened on Broadway
on September 29, 1955 at the Coronet Theatre (now the Eugene O'Neill Theatre
). It ran for 149 performances. This production was directed by Martin Ritt
and the cast included Van Heflin
as Eddie and Eileen Heckart
as Beatrice. Its two-act version premièred in London's West End
under the direction of Peter Brook
. It opened at the New Watergate theatre club
(currently Harold Pinter Theatre) on October 11, 1956 and the cast included Richard Harris
as Louis and Anthony Quayle
as Eddie.
acted as assistant director and stage manager for a successful 1965 production of the play Off-Broadway
at the Sheridan Square Playhouse
in New York City. The play's director, Ulu Grosbard, suggested to Arthur Miller that Hoffman would one day make a great Willie Loman (a role that Hoffman would later play to great acclaim). Miller was unimpressed and later wrote that "My estimate of Grosbard all but collapsed as, observing Dustin Hoffman’s awkwardness and his big nose that never seemed to get unstuffy, I wondered how the poor fellow imagined himself a candidate for any kind of acting career." Another production in New York opened on February 3, 1983 at the Ambassador Theatre
, with Tony Lo Bianco
as Eddie and directed by Arvin Brown
. It ran for 149 performances. An award-winning production in New York opened on December 14, 1997 at the Criterion Center Stage Right and subsequently transferred to the Neil Simon Theatre
. It ran for 239 performances. It was directed by Michael Mayer
and the cast included Anthony LaPaglia
, Allison Janney
, and a young Brittany Murphy
. The production won the Tony Award
for: Best Revival of a Play
; Best Leading Actor in a Play
(LaPaglia); it also won Drama Desk Award
s for Outstanding Revival
, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
(Janney), and Outstanding Direction of a Play. A revival at the Cort Theatre
on Broadway in 2009 starred Liev Schreiber
, Scarlett Johansson
and Jessica Hecht
. The limited, 14-week engagement, directed by Gregory Mosher
, began with previews on December 28, 2009 and officially opened on January 24, 2010. It ran until April 4, 2010. Johansson won a Tony Award for her performance.
staged a production in 1987 at the Cottesloe Theatre. It was directed by Alan Ayckbourn
and Michael Gambon
gave an acclaimed performance as Eddie. Time Out called the production "near perfect" and the New Statesman
called it "one of the finest events to be presented at the National Theatre since it moved to the South Bank." Another West End production was staged at the Duke of York's Theatre
, opening in previews on January 24, 2009 and officially on February 5. It ran until May 16, 2009. It was directed by Lindsay Posner
, with Ken Stott
as Eddie, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
as Beatrice, Hayley Atwell as Catherine and Harry Lloyd
as Rodolpho. The production subsequently toured the UK.
directed a stage version of the play in Italy in 1958. The plot of his film Rocco and his brothers (Rocco e i suoi fratelli), made in 1960, has many affinities with A View from the Bridge.
A film based on A View from the Bridge titled Vu du pont was released in February 1961. Directed by Sidney Lumet
, it starred Raf Vallone
and Maureen Stapleton
as Eddie and Beatrice, with Carol Lawrence as Catherine.
In 2005
, a new film version of A View From the Bridge was announced to be directed by Barry Levinson
, with Anthony LaPaglia
as Eddie, Scarlett Johansson
as Catherine, and Frances McDormand
as Beatrice. In January 2011, Variety
reported that the film was scheduled to begin shooting in June in Melbourne
and New York
with new director Robert Connolly
, and a cast composed of LaPaglia, Vera Farmiga
as Beatrice, Mia Wasikowska
as Catherine, and Sam Neill
and Sebastian Stan
in undisclosed roles.
In 1986, the BBC
aired a TV dramatisation of the play produced by Geoff Wilson
.
, the brother of film director Roberto Rossellini
, was the first to adapt the play into an opera with his Uno sguardo dal ponte, which premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
in 1961. In 1999, another operatic version, with music by William Bolcom
and a libretto by Arthur Miller
, premiered at Lyric Opera of Chicago
starring Kim Josephson as Eddie Carbone. The work was performed subsequently at the Metropolitan Opera
in 2002, again at the Washington National Opera
in 2007, and by Vertical Player Repertory Opera in 2009, starring William Browning
as Eddie.. The opera was first performed in Europe at Theatre Hagen in 2003 in German translation. The first English (original) language version produced in Europe opened at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
in Rome, Italy on January 18, 2011
Awards
Nominations
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
that was first staged on September 29, 1955 as a one-act verse drama
Verse drama and dramatic verse
Verse drama is any drama written as verse to be spoken; another possible general term is poetic drama. For a very long period, verse drama was the dominant form of drama in Europe...
with A Memory of Two Mondays
A Memory of Two Mondays
A Memory of Two Mondays is a one-act play by Arthur Miller.Based on Miller's own experiences, the play focuses on a group of desperate workers earning their livings in a Brooklyn automobile parts warehouse during the Great Depression in the 1930s, a time of 25 percent unemployment in the United...
at the Coronet Theatre
Coronet Theatre
The Coronet Theatre is a longstanding Los Angeles theatre. Many Hollywood stars have played there, and it has been home to several important premiere productions. More than 300 plays have been produced at the Coronet. As of June 2008, the theatre is now Largo at the Coronet Theatre, an expansion...
on Broadway. The play was unsuccessful and Miller subsequently revised the play to contain two acts; this version is the one with which audiences are most familiar today. The two-act version premièred in the New Watergate theatre club
Harold Pinter Theatre
The Harold Pinter Theatre formerly the Comedy Theatre until 2011, is a West End theatre, and opened on Panton Street in the City of Westminster, on 15 October 1881, as the Royal Comedy Theatre. It was designed by Thomas Verity and built in just six months in painted stone and brick. By 1884 it was...
in London's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
under the direction of Peter Brook
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...
on October 11th 1956.
The play is set in 1950s America, in an Italian American neighborhood near the Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...
in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. It employs both a chorus
Greek chorus
A Greek chorus is a homogenous, non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action....
and a narrator (Alfieri). Eddie, the tragic
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
, has an improper love of, and almost obsession with, Catherine. Miller's interest in writing about the world of the New York docks
Port of New York and New Jersey
The Port of New York and New Jersey comprises the waterways in the estuary of the New York-Newark metropolitan area with a port district encompassing an approximate area within a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument...
originated with an unproduced screenplay that he developed with Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
in the early 1950s (entitled The Hook) that addressed corruption on the Brooklyn docks (Kazan would go on to direct On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront is a 1954 American drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb and Karl Malden. The soundtrack score was composed by Leonard...
, which tackled the same subject). Miller said that he heard the basic account that developed into the plot of A View from the Bridge from a longshoreman, who related it to him as a true story.
Plot summary
The main character in the story is Eddie Carbone, an Italian AmericanItalian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
longshoreman, who lives with his wife, Beatrice and his orphaned niece, Catherine. As the play begins, Eddie is protective and kind toward Catherine, although his feelings grow into something more than avuncular as the play develops. His attachment to her is brought into perspective by the arrival from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
of Beatrice's two cousins, Marco and Rodolpho. They have entered the country illegally, hoping to leave behind hunger and unemployment for a better life in America. Marco is a exceptionally strong man, said by Eddie's friends to be 'a regular bull.' He also has a starving family in Italy (a wife, and 3 sons, one with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
). Rodolfo is in his late 20's, fair skinned, blond, and unattached. He is unconventional in that he sings (notably 'paper doll'), dances, is good at sewing and dress making and is also a good cook. Catherine soon begins a relationship with Rodolfo.
After three weeks, the pair have been seeing each other, and Eddie sets about pointing out all of Rodolfo's flaws to Catherine and Beatrice. He persistently complains that Rodolfo is "not right," referring to Rodolfo's effeminate qualities, such as sewing, cooking and singing. He is embarrassed by Rodolffo's reputation for singing during work.
When Catherine decides to marry Rodolfo, Eddie becomes desperate and begs his lawyer, Alfieri (who is also the narrator), to help him. However, he is told that the only way the law is able to help him is if he informs the Immigration Bureau of the presence of the two illegal immigrants. Due to his earlier assertion that "it's an honor" to give the men refuge, he refuses to betray them. At home he continues to passively insult Rodolfo, and ends up getting Rodolpho to fight in a boxing match. In retaliation, Marco challenges Eddie to lift a chair from the bottom of its leg, when Eddie fails to do this, Marco picks up the chair with one hand from the bottom of its leg and lifts it above his head. This demonstrates Marco's superior strength and that he will always be watching over Rodolfo, should Eddie insult him or attack him too much.
In the second Act, Eddie catches Rodolfo kissing Catherine in a bedroom. He then sees Alfieri a second time. Eddie ignores his lawyer's advice to let events run their course, and calls the Immigration Bureau. This betrayal proves disastrous: he comes back to learn that Catherine and Rodolfo are engaged, and Beatrice informs him two more illegal immigrants have moved into the upstairs apartment. Suddenly, the Immigration Officers arrive and shortly arrest the four immigrants. As the detainees are being taken from the tenement, Marco breaks free from the group, "dashes into the room" and spits in Eddie's face. This happens inside Eddie's house – however Eddie's rage is such that he follows Marco out into the street. He berates Marco for the insult, failing to notice that the gathering crowd are growing as one to conclude that Eddie is the traitor. This suspicion is confirmed as Marco singles Eddie out as the one who "killed my children."
Rodolfo is allowed to stay in the country due to his marriage, but Marco faces imminent deportation. Reluctantly, he promises Alfieri not to take revenge on Eddie (as is the Sicilian custom) and is let out on bail. In the final scene of the play, Eddie is shown to be furious with his humiliation and refuses to attend the wedding. He rejects Rodolpho's offer to reconcile and refuses to get out of the house when he learns Marco is arriving.
The play ends with a fight between Eddie and Marco, in a street filled with his friends and family. Eddie brandishes a knife and attacks Marco, who turns the blade onto Eddie, killing him. It is not known whether Marco actually intended to stab Eddie, and his reaction is not described. Eddie dies as the curtain falls, calling out to Beatrice.
Premières
The one-act, verseVerse drama and dramatic verse
Verse drama is any drama written as verse to be spoken; another possible general term is poetic drama. For a very long period, verse drama was the dominant form of drama in Europe...
version of A View from the Bridge opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
on September 29, 1955 at the Coronet Theatre (now the Eugene O'Neill Theatre
Eugene O'Neill Theatre
The Eugene O'Neill Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 230 West 49th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, it was built for the Shuberts as part of a theatre-hotel complex named for 19th century tragedian Edwin Forrest...
). It ran for 149 performances. This production was directed by Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt was an American director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City.-Early career and influences:...
and the cast included Van Heflin
Van Heflin
Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin, Jr. was an American film and theatre actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man...
as Eddie and Eileen Heckart
Eileen Heckart
Eileen Heckart was an American actress of stage, screen, and television.-Early life:Heckart was born Anna Eileen Heckart in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Esther and Leo Herbert. She was legally adopted by her grandfather, J.W. Heckart. Her family was of Irish and German descent...
as Beatrice. Its two-act version premièred in London's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
under the direction of Peter Brook
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...
. It opened at the New Watergate theatre club
Harold Pinter Theatre
The Harold Pinter Theatre formerly the Comedy Theatre until 2011, is a West End theatre, and opened on Panton Street in the City of Westminster, on 15 October 1881, as the Royal Comedy Theatre. It was designed by Thomas Verity and built in just six months in painted stone and brick. By 1884 it was...
(currently Harold Pinter Theatre) on October 11, 1956 and the cast included Richard Harris
Richard Harris
Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....
as Louis and Anthony Quayle
Anthony Quayle
Sir John Anthony Quayle, CBE was an English actor and director.-Early life:Quayle was born in Ainsdale, Southport, in Lancashire to a Manx family....
as Eddie.
Revivals in New York:
Dustin HoffmanDustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
acted as assistant director and stage manager for a successful 1965 production of the play Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
at the Sheridan Square Playhouse
Sheridan Square Playhouse
The Sheridan Square Playhouse was an Off-Broadway theatre in New York City that was active from 1958 through the early 1990s. Closed as a theatre in 1996, the theatre was located at 99 7th Avenue South in Greenwich Village.-History:...
in New York City. The play's director, Ulu Grosbard, suggested to Arthur Miller that Hoffman would one day make a great Willie Loman (a role that Hoffman would later play to great acclaim). Miller was unimpressed and later wrote that "My estimate of Grosbard all but collapsed as, observing Dustin Hoffman’s awkwardness and his big nose that never seemed to get unstuffy, I wondered how the poor fellow imagined himself a candidate for any kind of acting career." Another production in New York opened on February 3, 1983 at the Ambassador Theatre
Ambassador Theatre (New York)
The Ambassador Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 219 West 49th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp for the Shuberts, the structure is unusual in that it is situated diagonally on its site to fit the maximum number of...
, with Tony Lo Bianco
Tony Lo Bianco
Tony Lo Bianco is an American actor in films and television.Lo Bianco was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a taxi driver. He is known for his roles in the cult films The Honeymoon Killers, God Told Me To, and The French Connection...
as Eddie and directed by Arvin Brown
Arvin Brown
Arvin Brown is an American theatre and television director and was the Artistic Director of the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut for 30 years. He was married to actress Joyce Ebert until her death in 1997....
. It ran for 149 performances. An award-winning production in New York opened on December 14, 1997 at the Criterion Center Stage Right and subsequently transferred to the Neil Simon Theatre
Neil Simon Theatre
The Neil Simon Theatre, formerly the Alvin Theatre, is a Broadway venue built in 1927 and located at 250 West 52nd Street in midtown-Manhattan....
. It ran for 239 performances. It was directed by Michael Mayer
Michael Mayer (director)
Michael Mayer is an American stage and film director. He won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 2007 for directing Spring Awakening.-Biography:...
and the cast included Anthony LaPaglia
Anthony LaPaglia
Anthony M. LaPaglia is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as FBI agent Jack Malone on the American TV series Without a Trace, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama...
, Allison Janney
Allison Janney
Allison Brooks Janney is an American actress, best known for her role as C.J. Cregg on the television series The West Wing.- Personal life :...
, and a young Brittany Murphy
Brittany Murphy
Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack , known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was an American actress and singer. She starred in films such as Clueless, Just Married, Girl Interrupted, Spun, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City, Happy Feet, and Riding in Cars with Boys...
. The production won the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for: Best Revival of a Play
Tony Award for Best Revival
The Tony Award for Best Revival was presented from 1977 until 1994, when it was split into the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical and the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. If there are not enough revivals, it is possible under the current Tony rules for the "Best Revival of a Play or...
; Best Leading Actor in a Play
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play presented since 1947, is awarded to actors in productions of new or revival plays.-1940s:*1947 - José Ferrer – Cyrano de Bergerac / Fredric March – Years Ago...
(LaPaglia); it also won Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
s for Outstanding Revival
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play
This is a list of winners of the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play initially introduced in 1976 as the, Drama Desk for Award Outstanding Revival and included musical theatre as well as stage plays.-1980s:* 1982: Entertaining Mr...
, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since...
(Janney), and Outstanding Direction of a Play. A revival at the Cort Theatre
Cort Theatre
The Cort Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 138 West 48th Street in the Theatre District of midtown Manhattan in New York City...
on Broadway in 2009 starred Liev Schreiber
Liev Schreiber
Isaac Liev Schreiber , commonly known as Liev Schreiber, is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy of...
, Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson is an American actress, model and singer.Johansson made her film debut in North and was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in Manny & Lo . She rose to further prominence with her roles in The Horse Whisperer and Ghost World...
and Jessica Hecht
Jessica Hecht
Jessica Hecht is an American actress, known for numerous Broadway appearances and TV roles.-Background:Hecht was born in Princeton, New Jersey, the daughter of Lenore, a psychotherapist, and Richard Hecht, a physicist. Jessica moved with her parents and her sister to Bloomfield, CT, at the age of...
. The limited, 14-week engagement, directed by Gregory Mosher
Gregory Mosher
Gregory Mosher is a long time director and producer of stage productions – at the Lincoln Center and Goodman Theatres, on and off-Broadway, at the Royal National Theatre, and in the West End. He is also a film and television director, producer, and writer...
, began with previews on December 28, 2009 and officially opened on January 24, 2010. It ran until April 4, 2010. Johansson won a Tony Award for her performance.
Revivals in London
The National Theatre of Great BritainRoyal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
staged a production in 1987 at the Cottesloe Theatre. It was directed by Alan Ayckbourn
Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...
and Michael Gambon
Michael Gambon
Sir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...
gave an acclaimed performance as Eddie. Time Out called the production "near perfect" and the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
called it "one of the finest events to be presented at the National Theatre since it moved to the South Bank." Another West End production was staged at the Duke of York's Theatre
Duke of York's Theatre
The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End Theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre, until her death in 1935. It opened on 10 September 1892 as the Trafalgar Square Theatre, with Wedding...
, opening in previews on January 24, 2009 and officially on February 5. It ran until May 16, 2009. It was directed by Lindsay Posner
Lindsay Posner
Lindsay Posner is an award-winning British theatre director, known for his work in London's West End and at the Royal Court Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, particularly plays by David Mamet.-Career:...
, with Ken Stott
Ken Stott
Kenneth Campbell "Ken" Stott is a Scottish actor, particularly known in the United Kingdom for his many roles in television.-Early life:...
as Eddie, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is an American actress and singer known for her role as Carmen in The Color of Money, as well as for her roles as Lindsey Brigman in The Abyss, Gina Montana in Scarface, and Maid Marian in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.-Personal life:Mastrantonio was born in Lombard,...
as Beatrice, Hayley Atwell as Catherine and Harry Lloyd
Harry Lloyd
Harry Lloyd is an English actor. He played Will Scarlet in the first two seasons of the BBC drama Robin Hood which began in 2006...
as Rodolpho. The production subsequently toured the UK.
Film
Italian film director Luchino ViscontiLuchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo was an Italian theatre, opera and cinema director, as well as a screenwriter. He is best known for his films The Leopard and Death in Venice .-Life:...
directed a stage version of the play in Italy in 1958. The plot of his film Rocco and his brothers (Rocco e i suoi fratelli), made in 1960, has many affinities with A View from the Bridge.
A film based on A View from the Bridge titled Vu du pont was released in February 1961. Directed by Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
, it starred Raf Vallone
Raf Vallone
Raffaele "Raf" Vallone was an Italian footballer, actor and an international film star.Born in Tropea, Calabria, the son of a lawyer, Vallone attended Liceo classico Cavour in Turin, and studied Law and Philosophy at the University of Turin and entered his father's law firm...
and Maureen Stapleton
Maureen Stapleton
Maureen Stapleton was an American actress in film, theater and television.-Early life:Stapleton was born Lois Maureen Stapleton in Troy, New York, the daughter of Irene and John P. Stapleton, and grew up in a strict Irish American Catholic family...
as Eddie and Beatrice, with Carol Lawrence as Catherine.
In 2005
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
, a new film version of A View From the Bridge was announced to be directed by Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. His films include Good Morning, Vietnam, Sleepers and Rain Man.-Early life:...
, with Anthony LaPaglia
Anthony LaPaglia
Anthony M. LaPaglia is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as FBI agent Jack Malone on the American TV series Without a Trace, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama...
as Eddie, Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson is an American actress, model and singer.Johansson made her film debut in North and was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in Manny & Lo . She rose to further prominence with her roles in The Horse Whisperer and Ghost World...
as Catherine, and Frances McDormand
Frances McDormand
Frances Louise McDormand is an American film and stage actress. She has starred in a number of films, including her Academy Award-winning performance as Marge Gunderson in Fargo, in 1996...
as Beatrice. In January 2011, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported that the film was scheduled to begin shooting in June in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
with new director Robert Connolly
Robert Connolly
Robert Connolly is a politically conscious film director, producer and screenwriter based in Melbourne, Australia.Connolly is best known as the director and writer of the feature films Balibo, Three Dollars and The Bank, and the producer of the high-profile Australian films Romulus My Father and...
, and a cast composed of LaPaglia, Vera Farmiga
Vera Farmiga
Vera Ann Farmiga is an American actress and director. Farmiga made her film debut in the 1998 drama thriller Return to Paradise. This was followed by supporting roles in the 2000 romantic film Autumn in New York and the 2001 television series UC: Undercover...
as Beatrice, Mia Wasikowska
Mia Wasikowska
Mia Wasikowska is an Australian actress. After starting her career in Australian television and film, she first became known to a wider audience following her critically acclaimed work on the HBO television series In Treatment...
as Catherine, and Sam Neill
Sam Neill
Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III....
and Sebastian Stan
Sebastian Stan
Sebastian Stan is a Romanian-born American actor. He is best known for playing Prince Jack Benjamin on the television drama Kings and Carter Baizen on Gossip Girl.-Early life:...
in undisclosed roles.
Television
On 4 April 1966, ITV aired View from the Bridge as its "ITV Play of the Week", of which no surviving copies exist.In 1986, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
aired a TV dramatisation of the play produced by Geoff Wilson
Geoff Wilson
Geoff Wilson is a former Canadian politician.An accountant and lawyer by profession, Wilson was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Swift Current—Maple Creek, Saskatchewan in the 1984 federal election...
.
Opera
Renzo RosselliniRenzo Rossellini
Renzo Rossellini was an Italian composer, best known for his film scores.Born in Rome, he was brother of director Roberto Rossellini and father of producer Franco Rossellini...
, the brother of film director Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Rossellini was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as Roma città aperta to the movement.-Early life:Born in Rome, Roberto Rossellini lived on the Via Ludovisi, where Benito Mussolini had...
, was the first to adapt the play into an opera with his Uno sguardo dal ponte, which premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma is an opera house in Rome, Italy. Originally opened in November 1880 as the 2,212 seat Costanzi Theatre, it has undergone several changes of name as well modifications and improvements...
in 1961. In 1999, another operatic version, with music by William Bolcom
William Bolcom
William Elden Bolcom is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, two Grammy Awards, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. Bolcom taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973–2008...
and a libretto by Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
, premiered at Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
starring Kim Josephson as Eddie Carbone. The work was performed subsequently at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in 2002, again at the Washington National Opera
Washington National Opera
The Washington National Opera is an opera company in Washington, D.C., USA. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performances are now given in the Opera House of the John F...
in 2007, and by Vertical Player Repertory Opera in 2009, starring William Browning
William Browning
William Browning may refer to:* William J. Browning , politician* William Browning *William Docker Browning , U.S. federal judge...
as Eddie.. The opera was first performed in Europe at Theatre Hagen in 2003 in German translation. The first English (original) language version produced in Europe opened at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma is an opera house in Rome, Italy. Originally opened in November 1880 as the 2,212 seat Costanzi Theatre, it has undergone several changes of name as well modifications and improvements...
in Rome, Italy on January 18, 2011
Awards and nominations
Awards
- 1998 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a PlayDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a PlayThis is a list of winners of the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play initially introduced in 1976 as the, Drama Desk for Award Outstanding Revival and included musical theatre as well as stage plays.-1980s:* 1982: Entertaining Mr...
- 1998 Tony Award for Best Revival of a PlayTony Award for Best Revival of a PlayThe Tony Award for Best Revival has only been awarded since 1994. Prior to that, plays and musicals were considered together for the Tony Award for Best Revival...
- 2010 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play
Nominations
- 1983 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play
- 2010 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play
External links
- A View from the Bridge from SparkNotesSparkNotesSparkNotes, originally part of a website called The Spark, is a company started by Harvard students Sam Yagan, Max Krohn, Chris Coyne, and Eli Bolotin in 1999 that originally provided study guides for literature, poetry, history, film, and philosophy...
- English Literature: A View from the Bridge from the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's GCSE BitesizeBitesizeBBC Bitesize is the name given to the BBC's free online study support resource for school-age students in the United Kingdom. It is designed to aid students in both school work and, for older students, exams.- History :... - Studying Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge from eriding.net
- Understanding A View From The Bridge from aresearchguide.com
- A View from the Bridge study guide, themes, quotes, teacher resources from shmoop.com