Near the conclusion of Arthur Miller's classic drama, "Death of a Salesman," there are the sounds of a car crash, followed by Willie Loman's family gathered at his gravesite.
In this 1991 drama, the sounds of a grinding car crash are heard during the opening moments, while a spotlight focuses on insurance executive Lyman Felt in a hospital bed, followed by his family gathering in a hospital waiting room.But Felt is not the flipside of Loman. Both men have their intensely personal problems, but Felt's life is probably far more chaotic than Loman's.
The physical pain Felt is feeling in his bed at Clearhaven Hospital is merely physical. He's about to be made even more uncomfortable by something much worse than a couple of I.V.s, being jabbed with tubes and catheters or the humiliation of an ice-cold bedpan.
First his wife of 32 years, Theodora, shows up with their daughter, Bessie, following a long drive from New York City to Elmira, a small town in western New York just above the Pennsylvania border.
Then another Mrs. Felt -- this one named Leah -- arrives, all upset and agitated with the hospital staff. She lives nearby and she's pretty familiar with the place.
When the two Mrs. Felts start comparing notes, it turns out that Lyman had married Leah nine years ago in Reno, Nev., after claiming he'd been divorced from Theo.
Leah never actually saw the divorce decree herself. In a flashback, the curious (and already pregnant) about-to-be-wed Leah wants to see the divorce decree. Lyman, gleefully dancing around the room -- and the issue -- claims, "I was so happy to be free, I just threw it away."
This is the same Lyman Felt who has amassed a fortune by creating his own large insurance company, where record-keeping is probably a main concern -- but he tosses his divorce decree in the garbage?
Before too long, Lyman's longtime attorney, Tom, is brought in to salvage what he can of the mess. He's just as stunned as the two women to learn about Felt's bigamy.
Directed by Meg Gibson (who starred as Leah in the original New York production of "Mount Morgan" opposite Patrick Stewart), this regional premiere at Salt Lake Acting Company has a rock-solid cast of experienced local performers.
Tony Larimer gives a great performance as the thoroughly despicable Lyman Felt, a profligate womanizer who seems to have no conscience whatsoever. After awhile, the two wives are wondering if he has a split personality -- the man Theo is married to is afraid to fly and would never drive over 60 miles per hour, while Leah's husband has taken up soaring and maintains a fleet of expensive, high-powered racing cars. (He also has to spend at least two weeks a month supervising things in his company's Elmira office; at least that's what Theo has long been led to believe.)
Felt has even driven the Mount Morgan route before, as part of a road-race. Unfortunately, the night his souped-up Porsche careened off the ice-coated road, there was a severe snowstorm and a barricade had mysteriously been removed -- raising the possibility that Felt intentionally barreled down the road in an attempt to commit suicide.
Portraying his wives are Joan Mullaney as Theo, a stiff, WASPish woman who tries hard to keep her emotions in check, and Jeanette Puhich as Leah, who is seductive and passionate.
Richard Scott plays Tom, the frustrated attorney, confronted with attempting to make some sense of Lyman's surprising "other" life, with Emily Sandack as Bessie, the daughter who once practically worshipped the ground her father walked on, but not any more.
Sherry Richards plays the Thelma Ritter-esque Nurse Logan, attending dutifully to Lyman's medical needs, and offering advice on the side.
Keven Myhre's simple setting -- a polished, metal hospital bed at centerstage, several waiting room chairs on a raised deck immediately behind -- lets Miller's free-flowing play shift smoothly back and forth in time. His costuming ranges from Lyman's hospital pajamas to his two wives' skimpy black leotards, the latter as part of Lyman's bizarre -- and very funny -- nightmare.
Jim Craig's lighting, David Evanoff's sound and Rick Margitza's underscoring are also very effective.
Note: Another Arthur Miller play, the classic "A View From the Bridge," is scheduled Feb. 9-26 at Pioneer Theatre Company.
Sensitivity rating: Considerable profanity and vulgarity, including the "R-rated word." Adult situations.