Mr. Peters' Connections
Encyclopedia
Mr. Peters' Connections is a play by Arthur Miller
. The title character is a former Pan Am
pilot
who worked for the airline in its glory days. He recalls flying into a thousand sunsets and bedding eighteen Rockettes
in a month, eventually marrying one of them. Now he is an aging, befuddled man lost in a world he no longer understands.
The serio-comic
fantasy
is set in an abandoned, dilapidated night club his wife Charlotte is encouraging him to buy. Peters' only interest in the place stems from its location near a shoe store that carries the extra narrow size he requires. Present are a homeless squatter named Adele (who acts as an occasional commentator) and Calvin, the owner of the property. Soon joining them are Larry, the shoe store proprietor who is searching for his missing wife Cathy Mae, two New Age
emissaries - a young pregnant girl named Rose (who might be Peters' long-lost daughter) and her musician
-composer
friend Leonard - and Charlotte.
Miller wrote the play specifically for the off-Broadway
Signature Theater Company, which staged it as the final offering of their 1997-98 season. The limited-run production, directed by Garry Hynes
, opened on April 28, 1998 and ran until June 21. The cast included Peter Falk
as Mr. Peters, Anne Jackson
as Charlotte, Jeff Weiss
as Calvin, Erica Bradshaw as Adele, Kris Carr as Cathy Mae, Daniel Oreskes as Larry, Alan Mozes as Leonard, and Tari Signor
as Rose.
In his review in the New York Times, Ben Brantley
described the play as "a numbing experience. The work is an example of the experimental, ruminative style the dramatist has adopted of late, an approach that is by no means his most effective . . . his recent exercises in abstraction have an oddly old-fashioned feeling . . . though Connections may portray a world of baffling ambiguity, the ways in which it does so tend to be blunt and even clumsy."
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,...
. The title character is a former Pan Am
Pan American World Airways
Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991...
pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
who worked for the airline in its glory days. He recalls flying into a thousand sunsets and bedding eighteen Rockettes
The Rockettes
The Rockettes are a precision dance company performing out of the Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan, New York City. During the Christmas season, the Rockettes have performed five shows a day, seven days a week, for 77 years...
in a month, eventually marrying one of them. Now he is an aging, befuddled man lost in a world he no longer understands.
The serio-comic
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
is set in an abandoned, dilapidated night club his wife Charlotte is encouraging him to buy. Peters' only interest in the place stems from its location near a shoe store that carries the extra narrow size he requires. Present are a homeless squatter named Adele (who acts as an occasional commentator) and Calvin, the owner of the property. Soon joining them are Larry, the shoe store proprietor who is searching for his missing wife Cathy Mae, two New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
emissaries - a young pregnant girl named Rose (who might be Peters' long-lost daughter) and her musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
-composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
friend Leonard - and Charlotte.
Miller wrote the play specifically for the 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...
Signature Theater Company, which staged it as the final offering of their 1997-98 season. The limited-run production, directed by Garry Hynes
Garry Hynes
Garry Hynes is an Irish theatre director. She holds the distinction of being the first female to win the prestigious Tony Award for direction of a play.Hynes was born in Ballaghadereen, Roscommon County and educated at St...
, opened on April 28, 1998 and ran until June 21. The cast included Peter Falk
Peter Falk
Peter Michael Falk was an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo...
as Mr. Peters, Anne Jackson
Anne Jackson
Anne Jackson is an American actress of television, stage, and screen.-Life and career:Jackson, the youngest of three sisters, was born in Millvale, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Stella Germaine and John Ivan Jackson, a barber who ran a beauty parlor...
as Charlotte, Jeff Weiss
Jeff Weiss
Jeffrey Weiss is an American playwright and actor on Broadway. Weiss grew up in Allentown, PA, in a Lutheran family of Pennsylvania Dutch descent. In 1992, Weiss' play Hot Keys won an Obie award. His nephew is actor Jonathan Taylor Thomas...
as Calvin, Erica Bradshaw as Adele, Kris Carr as Cathy Mae, Daniel Oreskes as Larry, Alan Mozes as Leonard, and Tari Signor
Tari Signor
Tari Signor is an American actress.Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Signor has appeared off-Broadway in Death Defying Acts , Mr...
as Rose.
In his review in the New York Times, Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
described the play as "a numbing experience. The work is an example of the experimental, ruminative style the dramatist has adopted of late, an approach that is by no means his most effective . . . his recent exercises in abstraction have an oddly old-fashioned feeling . . . though Connections may portray a world of baffling ambiguity, the ways in which it does so tend to be blunt and even clumsy."