Product Description
Karen Kondazian has compiled inside information from talking to the premier casting directors in film, television, and commercials from New York to Los Angeles. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

interesting but not ground breaking
Had some useful information
but nothing that was ground breaking good but not amazing if you havr extra money ,not a bad investment

Good reading
I enjoy reading this book.It is useful for when you are submitting or auditioning for these casting directors since after reading the book, you know what they want.Or do you?I find people changing their minds very frequently and we as human beings are always changing.What is printed on the book, may no longer be true after a few years.However, it is interesting to read just what each person thinks an actor is or should do during auditions.I think as a whole, the book is useful because it provides some universal principles that we can all treasure and use in every aspect of our lives.

Hear it directly from the casting directors themselves
The role of a casting director is often misunderstood and actors are too often unaware of the pitfalls of auditions.This book is a must-have to help you find your way through.With direct interveiws with over 100 casting directors (mainly LA-based film/TV CDs, but some NY ones also) it gives you direct feedback on what casting directors like to see and don't.

One of the best advantages of this book is that you can see what preferences vary among casting directors...and what preferences are universal in the industry.This is an extremely valuable took and one I think should be in everyone's library!

good concepts, but not enough depth or variety
This is a well intentioned book, and has 100 interviews with real life Casting Directors.But after repeating the basics over and over with 100 interviews, there is not alot of depth or additional details.The basic teachings, such as being early to the audition, being prepared, being polite, being a professional, being an enthusiastic auditioner.....well, this is repeated for the 100 interviews. It could have been a much better book, with more details, so 3 stars.

A must read!
This is a fantastic up-to-date reference for all actors who are serious about the business! And if you don't want to follow the casting directors' advice, then get out of the business now!I have recommended this book to all the actors at my agency. I just wish it was bigger to include even more LA casting directors. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Unprecedented excellence
The best sci-fi radio drama I've ever heard, this volume anthologizes selections from an NPR series that ran in 1999-2000. All stories take place in the future. Lushly and meticulously produced, wonderful acting and nicely written, these plays of various lengths dramatize stories by greats such as Butler, Heinlein, Vonnegut and Bradbury, plus the stage play R.U.R., an international hit of the 1920s that gave us the word "robot." The sheer breadth of themes -- mensturation, over-population, miscegenation, scholarly folly, etc., etc. -- is astonishing, not to mention the mix of styles. Ellison, who introduces the stories, is his usual annoying self, but (thank God!) uncharacteristically brief.

This is an incredible set of Sci Fi Radio
This set contains six discs featuring 16 different futuristic science fiction audio dramas by various authors.
The clamshell binder holds the cds in sleeves which you might want to convert to slim cd cases for protection.
Disc One:
Blood by Frederic Brown
By His Bootstraps by Robert A. Heinlein
The Choice by Wayland Young
Disc Two:
RUR by Karel Kapek
Disc Three:
Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler
Merchant by Henry Slesar
Tomorrow and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Disc Four:
Shambleu C.L. Moore
And Miles to go before I sleep by William F. Nolan
Even The Queen by Connie Willis
Disc Five:
Revival Meeting by Dennie Placta
Pillar of Fire by Ray Bradbury
Sentience Today by Yuri Rasovsky
Disc 6:
Knock by Frederick Brown
Dear Pen Pal by A.E. Van Vogt
"Repent Harlequin" Said the Ticktockman by Harlan Ellison

These full cast audio productions are crystal clear on CD and feature humorous introductions by Harlan Ellison who hosts the series. Highly Recommended! ... Read more

Product Description
Mel and Edna are jobless, the plants on the terrace are dying, the apartment is burglarized, and Mel's psychiatrist dies. What else can go wrong? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A Great well-thought play...
A play written by Niel Simon is always expected to have some kind of comedy characters in them. This play is poisitvely one of those plays. Although, his characters go through struggles: such as keeping his own job, finding a job, or just getting exercise in the park. These characters are very depressing and fun to laugh with. The actual written words aren't funny, just the situations, which makes it that much more hilarious. This play only consists of two main characters and 4 cameo roles. Along with some one liner characters. I, myself, starred as Mr. edison (mel) in the LHHS poduction of The prisoner of second avenue. And let me tell you, the lines are very hard to get down. Although they are very smart, well thought out, and overall a great read/play/performance. GREAT COLLEGE/HIGHSCHOOL material for a festival, competition, or just a play that is going to be reviewed. Although i do warn you, it has A TON of cuss words.

B+ book/play

Best pick.
For those who may be taking Drama or Theatre courses, if that class requires you to have to analyze or write a synopsis of a play or drama, The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue is a plus. Simon wrote a funny with a dramatic twist and for those who need a monologue, The Prisoner of 2nd Avenue has a ton that work very well with judges as Ive been told, and as Ive learned. ITS A CLASSIC!

A GREAT WORK BY NEIL SIMON
This is a neat, excellent work by Neil Simon.

The Prisoner of Second Avenue
I can see why it was nominated for a Grammy!!!I absolutely love Dreyfuss and Mason.I couldn't stop listening to the play and I was so "into" it!!!

Top Notch
I can see why The Prisoner of Second Avenue got a Grammy nomination. Marsha Mason and Richard Dreyfuss have great chemistry and give top notch performances. A fabulous listen with plenty of laughs. Not to be missed! ... Read more

Product Description
What if there never was an American Revolution? Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss and Hugo Award-winning author Harry Turtledove present readers with a rollicking adventure of an America that never was--but could have been! What if George Washington had made peace with King George? What if America was still part of the British Empire? And the Sons of Liberty were waging war against the King in the 1990s?. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (76)

Great Read For It's Purpose
This book came highly recommended to me by a friend because he knew my interest in history, alternative history, the Colonial period and the possibilities of alternate endings to the Insurrection of the colonists from the lawful Crown of England.

The book was just that. An alternative plot surrounding a series of historical events. For those that are complaining about the content on one way or another it seems obvious that they were wanting a different sort of book and in some ways so was I, but that was not the point of this book and I recognize that.

The characters of this book were very real to me and I could see the setting and the conflicts very clearly. It is easy, of you are interested in this sort of thing to get sucked into the story and the plots and sub plots that this story creates.

I loved the solution to the story and the way that the plot was tied together at the end into a cohesive ending that did not leave you with any questions. Yes, things could have been added or removed or the plot could have been different but then it would not be this book and the intent of the authors would not be honored. All in all I really liked this book and it was sort of the opening of the door to alternative history as a genre for me.

Steam Toff
The premise is that Colonists elected to maintain their British Citizenship.
This changed history somewhat: Without a revolutionary war, Europeans didn't get so riled up against their own landlords. Britain had the support of most of North America against subsequent opponents.
Progress happened slower with fewer wars.
Slavery ended 30 years earlier when the British ordered it to end.
In the present day of the story, a terrorist organization descended from southern slavers tries to rile up Americans against Britains.They don't have much luck.the only ones who take them seriously most of the time are working class irish coal miners.Read this novel if for no other reason than the alternate version of Richard Nixon.

Snoozer
Each time I sat down to read this book, I found myself nodding off. I wanted it to be a good read. I love most of Harry Turtledove's work and was optimistic about Richard Dreyfuss as an author. Man was I disappointed.

Turtledove's Best Work
In my opinion, this is my favorite book done by Turtledove period. This book should be on every Alt. History fans bookself.

Good Literature; Weaker Alternate History
Yes, it starts off slow. In fact, I had to skim large sections to keep up interest. The authors would be better afforded to dwell less on the mystery of the theft of a painting, and more on the strangeness of the society they are proposing, especially the point of divergence, which is only lightly touched upon and never fully developed. (What would cause Washington to submit to George II? I have no idea. Neither, evidently, do the authors.)

However, after the first 100 pages, it is well worth the read. Once I accepted that this book had been badly billed, and was less alternative history than a detective story with a twist, it was exceptionally well written. This is literature, with strong character development and exceptional conversational nuance. Dreyfuss and Turtledove's style is to state emotions, but in a complex and overlaying manner. The plot is also engaging, with multiple endings and surprising twists. And in the best of the genre, we truly explore what life would be like had the American Rebellion never occurred, and America never seceded from Britain. It is a world surprisingly pleasant, although not without flaws. It is simpler technologically, with a lack of awareness of basic health. Ironically, without the fight for independence, there is a deeper commitment to equality (although they haven't completely reached a utopia in that regard). And most assuredly, without that one little paragraph in a constitution that never occurred, guns are nearly unheard of in civilian matters, and deaths are far, far lower. Kind of gives a feeling of nostalgia for the good old days under King and Country. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Steven Seagal, Gwyneth Paltrow, Albert Brooks, Alyson Hannigan, Laraine Newman, Richard Dreyfuss, James Cromwell, Brad Garrett, Rob Van Dam, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mila Kunis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rashida Jones, Lana Turner, Danny Trejo, Jenna Elfman, Jason David Frank, Juliette Lewis, Alexis Arquette, Nancy Allen, Anne Archer, Anna Easteden, Giovanni Ribisi, Corbin Bernsen, Lisa Arch, Noah Hathaway, Conrad Dunn, Cindy Margolis, Jeffrey Jones, Agnes Bruckner, Erika Christensen, Bodhi Elfman, Minka Kelly, Oliver Hudson, Kasha Kropinski, Robert Carradine, Caryn Ward, Spencer Daniels, Taimak, Jason Ybarra, Naya Rivera, Johnny Lewis, Arye Gross, Wings Hauser, Frankie Ryan Manriquez, Michael Murphy, Judie Aronson, Kim Myers, Cliff Deyoung, Kidada Jones, Loren Avedon, Maxine Doyle, Melinda O. Fee, Dick Tufeld, Marisol Padilla Sánchez, Peter Jason, Brian Levinson, De'aundre Bonds, Jenny Beck, Gary Gray, Danny Bravo. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 364. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Robert Alexander "Rob" Szatkowski (born December 18, 1970), better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam (RVD), is an American professional wrestler and actor who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is the reigning TNA World Heavyweight Champion. He is also known known for his time in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Szatkowski has held twenty-eight championships in various promotions during his career, and is a three-time world champion: a one-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion, one-time WWE Champion and one-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion, and the only man to hold the ECW World Heavyweight Championship and WWE Championship simultaneously. He was also the winner of WWE's Money in the Bank ladder match i...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=306401 ... Read more

Product Description
Take an unforgettable ride with the classic sketches that helped make this Americas foremost comedy troupe. The Second City lampoons every aspect of modern American life, with brilliant improvised sketches on subjects ranging from salad bars to affairs of state.

A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Fran Adams, Scott Adsit, Scott Allman, Edward Asner, Samantha Bennett, Jennifer Bill, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Arye Gross, Jenn Jolovitz, Tim Kazurinsky, Laura Krafft, Joe Liss, Marsha Mason, Michael McCarthy, Jerry Minor, Tim O'Malley, David Razowsky, Mitch Rouse, John Rubano, Ruth Rudnick, Amy Sedaris, Brian Stack, Jill Talley, Miriam Tolan, Nia Vardalos, Ron West, Peter Zahradnick and Jim Zulevic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Classic comedy from the granddaddy of all comedy troupes!
This collections gathers classic sketches from 1959-present, and they're mostly fabulous.This material has been created by some of our country's sharpest comedic minds (John Belushi, Bill Murray, Martin Short, MikeMyers, etc.) and are performed here by current troupe members.The satirestill cuts.There's a reason these scenes have been kept around for solong - they're hilarious!Everything from women in the military toparent-child mind games come in for ribbing during the course of (4)cassettes.Look for Ed Asner, Marsha Mason, "Saturday NightLive"'s Tim Kazurinsky, "The Daily Show"'s Stephen Colbert,"Strangers With Candy"'s Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello, "TheSecret Lives Of Men"'s Mitch Rouse, "Mr. Show"'s JillTalley, and "Whose Line Is It Anyway"'s Ron West. ... Read more

Product Description
In this timely, highly original, and controversial narrative, New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky discusses nonviolence as a distinct entity, a course of action, rather than a mere state of mind. Nonviolence can and should be a technique for overcoming social injustice and ending wars, he asserts, which is why it is the preferred method of those who speak truth to power.

Nonviolence is a sweeping yet concise history that moves from ancient Hindu times to present-day conflicts raging in the Middle East and elsewhere. Kurlansky also brings into focus just why nonviolence is a “dangerous” idea, and asks such provocative questions as: Is there such a thing as a “just war”? Could nonviolence have worked against even the most evil regimes in history?

Kurlansky draws from history twenty-five provocative lessons on the subject that we can use to effect change today. He shows how, time and again, violence is used to suppress nonviolence and its practitioners–Gandhi and Martin Luther King, for example; that the stated deterrence value of standing national armies and huge weapons arsenals is, at best, negligible; and, encouragingly, that much of the hard work necessary to begin a movement to end war is already complete. It simply needs to be embraced and accelerated.

Engaging, scholarly, and brilliantly reasoned, Nonviolence is a work that compels readers to look at history in an entirely new way. This is not just a manifesto for our times but a trailblazing book whose time has come. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

The book is shallow, historically inaccurate, but condescendingly assured of its own self-righteousness
If you think this book makes a good case, read opposing views, and then see if you still agree.

Kurlansky ignores history that does not fit his thesis and twists what history he does use in order for it to fit. "Non-violence" is not a nuanced book, but rather a self-righteous ode to an idea that has been tried and failed repeatedly throughout history, succeeding only in rare circumstances when used against morally advanced and physically weak opponents. More often, non-violence has led to slaughter and not to peace.

Kurlansky repeatedly distinguishes his definition of "non-violence" from pacifism. It turns out his non-violence includes destroying that which belongs to someone else and calling the owner's reaction immoral. It's really a childish, narcissitic worldview, with little to no nuance to match its outsized regard for itself. The title tells it all - "a dangerous idea". Kurlansky is enamoured with thinking himself "dangerous".

In fact, he confuses the successful exercise of power by states in his age to protect their citizens (such as Kurlansky) with a lack of need for that power. One example: The National Guard desegregated the South. If Eisenhower had not called it in, non-violent civil rights leaders could not have gotten black southerners into white state colleges. Southern thugs were brave against defenseless blacks. They were not so brave against an armed militia.

That's not to say that King, Parks and others did not play an equally valuable role. They persuaded the white leaders who had armed forces (such as Kennedy) not to ignore the injustice and to use those armed forces, such as the National Guard and Federal Marshals, to stop the injustice. JFK and his attorney general brother needed some persuading.

Very disapointed.
I like Kurlansky's other books and looked forward to reading this one. It even started out promisingly.But it quickly turned into a liberal diatribe that was typically simplistic of USA/Western/Capitalism.I am very open to the idea that we can find better ways of dealing with conflict than we currently do, but this book does not tell us how.

Pacifism for Dummies (quite literally)
Those who beat their swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who kept their swords -Benjamin Franklin

While I would agree that while non-violence is "principled" it has certainly not shown itself to be effective against the kind of monsters that have plagued the most gruesome chapters of human history.

Ghandi and King were fortunate that they had operated in the framework of liberal western democracies, and while they certainly faced organized opposition to their respective movements, the mainstream opposition was reasonable and largely moral (even if their actions were not always such). The Ukrainian Kulak's on the other hand "non-violently" destroyed crops instead of having them appropriated and were treated to one of the most horrific genocides of the 20th century. The protestors at Tiananmen square "non-violently" staged democracy rallies and were steamrolled by tanks.

The Eastern European example that Kurlansky uses was not an example of non-violence working so much as it was an example of an oppressive force that was not as willing as it once was to liquidate an entire population to keep them in line. Had the solidarity movement began in 1947, Poland would have suffered the same fate of the Ukraine. Or ask the residents of Lidice or Lezáky Czechoslovakia how well non-violence worked when the Germans razed the towns and had every occupant shot or sent to a concentration camp.

I wont even go into Kurlansky's theories on the second world was, as I could write page on how terrible wrong he is on this point, but a good illustration is that Kurlansky's resorted to the scholarship of David Irving to buttress his thoughts on the bombing of Dresden.

History has demonstrated that non-violence can be effective when the oppressive force is not composed of subhuman animals. A government that places no values on human life and has absolutely no morals will do anything they need to hold onto power and eliminate their opposition (USSR, Khmer Rouge, Communist China, Nazi Germany, Hussein's Iraq). You cannot shame the shameless. Kurlansky's central thesis that violence only plays into the hands of an oppressive state because it is easier to massacre violent protestors than non-violent ones is nice and all, but as totalitarian governments control all media outlets and all propaganda organs, they can and do attach any narrative to the events that suit their purposes.

So is "non-violence" a dangerous idea? Only for those who practice it in the face of tyranny.

Good primer
Kurlansky's rather small book (only about 180pgs) shows a number of examples of nonviolence, from secular and religious influences, that are presented in a fluid manner, not done in a text-book fashion so you won't feel like you're reading a how-to book.

Out of all of the books I have read on the subject of nonviolence, I didn't really pick up on anything I hadn't already read or learned about elsewhere, however, this would make a good PRIMER for those new to the philosophy of nonviolence. If you're interested in some real meat and potatos, look elsewhere (Muste, Zinn, Sharp, Wink, McCarthy).

Am I saying it's a bad book? Definitely not, I even plan to keep it in my library. It was well written, and my only wish is that he decides to write a more in-depth book in the future.

See my Listmania list for all of the books I have read on nonviolence.

Nonviolence
Excellent. A must-read for anyone who is interested in having a future. ... Read more

Product Description
Jaws is a 1975 American horror/thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. The police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant great white shark by closing the beach, only to be overruled by the town council, which wants the beach to remain open to draw a profit from tourists during the summer season. After several attacks, the police chief enlists the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter. Roy Scheider stars as police chief Martin Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as marine biologist Matt Hooper, Robert Shaw as shark hunter Quint, Murray Hamilton as the Mayor of Amity Island, and Lorraine Gary as Brody's wife, Ellen. Jaws is regarded as a watershed film in motion picture history, the father of the summer blockbuster movie and one of the first "high concept" films. ... Read more

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Richard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s. He is probably best known for his roles in the films Jaws, The Goodbye Girl, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Always, Stakeout, Mr. Holland's Opus, American Graffiti and What About Bob?. Dreyfuss won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1977 for The Goodbye Girl, and was nominated in 1995 for Mr. Holland's Opus. He has also won multiple Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Muhammad Ali, Dave Barry, Willie Dixon, Christopher Isherwood, Richard Dreyfuss, Lew Ayres, Stanley Kunitz, Lyndon Larouche, Mike Nifong, Jeremy Hinzman, Robin Long, Paul Revere ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Albert Einstein, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Tristan Tzara, Norbert Wiener, Richard Dreyfuss, Stanley Kunitz, Uri Geller, Martin Buber, Michael Lerner, William James Sidis, Abraham Cronbach, Judah Leon Magnes, Arthur Waskow, Mark Gertler, Aviv Geffen, Manfred George, Sydney Silverman, Larry Bensky, Wilhelm Stepper-Tristis, Yonassan Gershom, Kurt Eisner, John Rodker, Hugo Haase, Alfred Hermann Fried, Arthur Lelyveld, Aletta Jacobs, Kurt Hiller, Hettie Jones. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 251. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Tristan Tzara (French pronunciation: ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; April 16 1896December 25, 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, composer and film director, he was known best for being one of the founders and central figures of the anti-establishment Dada movement. Under the influence of Adrian Maniu, the adolescent Tzara became interested in Symbolism and co-founded the magazine Simbolul with Ion Vinea (with whom he also wrote experimental poetry) and painter Marcel Janco. During World War I, after briefly collaborating on Vinea's Chemarea, he joined Janco in Switzerland. There, Tzara's shows at the Cabaret Voltaire and Zunfthaus zur Waag, as well as his poetry and art manifestos, became a main feature of early Dadaism. His work represented Dada's nihilistic side, in contrast with the more moderate approach favored by Hugo Ball. After moving to Paris in 1919, Tzara, by then one of the "presidents of Dada", joined the staff of Littérature magazine, which marked the first step in the movement's evolution toward Surrealism. He was involved in the major polemics which led to Dada's split, defending his principles agai...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=36885 ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Music Trades, published by Music Trades Corp. on April 1, 1996. The length of the article is 468 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Dreyfuss supports music ed. at Grammies. (actor Richard Dreyfuss)
Publication: Music Trades (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 1996
Publisher: Music Trades Corp.
Volume: v144Issue: n3Page: p60(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
Full cast recording of a theatrical play read by Richard Dreyfuss, Amy Irving, and Harris Yulin. Arthur Miller's deeply moving drama reunites two long estranged middle-aged brothers. Nostalgia and recrimination erupt as they sell off an attic full of furniture, their last link to a family and a world that no longer exist. This 1968 classic is a wrenching saga of plaintive gestures and missed opportunities. A BBC Co-production. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Just as advertised
Ordered this script to prepare for an audition.It arrived quickly in perfect condition just as advertised.Included as a bonus was a promotional brochure from a theatrical book club dating from when the play was first published in the acting edition.Great pictures and excerpts from reviews of the first Broadway production.Fascinating!Very satisfied with this purchase!And oh yes, I got the part!!!

Well Worth 'The Price' (that was so lame, I know)
This 1968 play from Miller is one of the author's better works in a career full of 'better works'.

While 'The Price' is definitely one of Miller's lesser known plays, there is certainly no reason for it to be so.It stands tall and ranks up with there with Miller's best, probably only being surpassed by a sparse number of his other works.

Many a synopsis can be found elsewhere on this page, so I'll skip that.
I will say that this play is a slow-burner.Miller takes his time establishing the characters, their relationships to each other and the world that they all inhabit.The writing throughout is simple yet elegant (though the dialogue at times is a bit outdated).

The core relationship between the two brothers has a great deal of depth and never strays from being completely and utterly real.Each of the brothers is tremendously well-written and well thought out.Miller never cheats in his writing of either of these two characters; each stays true to himself at all times and never acts out of character.

"The Price" is always sure of itself, its footing is always true and Miller always knows exactly where the play is going.The entire last third of the play is an absolute knockout as the steady, methodical pace that Miller has spent the beginning of the play cultivating, suddenly blows its top and the brothers really dive into the hearts and minds of each other.

Even the character of the appraiser, Solomon, whom at first seems like a boring, comedic stereotype, quickly reveals himself to be something deeper.

My only complaint about the play is that its sole female character, Esther, doesn't really need to be present.It can be argued that Solomon and her balance each other out, but I just don't think the supportive evidence is there.Esther could be removed and the play would essentially be the same.Her character just isn't needed and on top of that, she's easily the weakest written character in the play.I'm sure a talented actress could make her worthwhile and even heartbreaking in a way, but on the page she's just lifeless.

The construction of the play is tight and terrific, the character of Solomon is terrific and quite wise and funny (even in 2007) and the core relationship between Victor and Walter is absolutely explosive.This play should be read.

The Price
An excellent production of Miller's classic. Ideal study aid for students and amateur groups wishing to put on the play.

We either reconcile the past or become its victim.
This is an outstanding dramatic work that I think is underestimated. We often think of Death of A Salesman, The Crucible, or After the Fall when we think of Miller's plays. However, The Price is a surprizingly taunt, well written and penetrating work of art.

The plot is nicely situated in an old attic full of massive antiques from a once wealthy family - whose capital as well as the father's will to succeed are both destroyed in the depression. Two brothers meet after twenty years of silence of to finally settle the estate of the long deceased father. The elder, Walter, has become a nationally recognized medical specialist whereas his younger brother, Victor, has become a policeman, father, and the primary caretaker of their father. Sharp words are exchanged in an encounter that has been postponed for many years. The dialogue is superb, blunt, crisp, and powerful.

Two other figures in the play help move the drama forward. Victor's wife is willing to voice opinions that Victor suppresses. The elderly Gregory Solomon, the used furniture dealer, offers some dramaticrelief.

In the end, the play is really not about the price of an attic full of used furniture. Rather, it is about the priorities that we all make in our lives. Sometimes the priorities are totally conscious and sometimes unconscious. These priorities then lead to choices. Sometimes the choices are active and sometimes they are the choices of passive default. Finally these priorities and the choices they engenderlead to consequences. Again, some of these consequences are recognized and some remain hidden. In the final analysis, priorities that lead to choices that lead to consequences all have a price. This is a play about how two men reconcile the prices they have paid for the priorities they had in life. The term 'reconcile' may not be the best choice of words, for at then end of our adult life, who really feels reconciled with all their choices and the consequences?

In the final analysis, this is a beautiful exploration of those summative moments where we place meaning onto life and it all it entails or we fall into despair. It is time for a revival of this powerful play.

Price for Furniture...Price for your Life....
Arthur Miller's "The Price" is as excellent as his View From the Bridge, All My Sons, and Death of a Salesman.And, I am quite positive it equals to what I have not read it yet, "The Crucible."

Estranged from his brother Walter for 16 years, 50 year old, policeman, Victor Franz is finally reunited because the need is to sell furnishings of their dead father.Victor is bitter over the choice he made in his youth to care for his father, who became one of millions of victims of the crash of 1929 and the Depression.Victor supported his father who was broke and shamed over the Depression.He became a policeman, instead of taking a career in science that he seemed primed for.

His brother Walter, however, made his choice in life to become a successful surgeon, and he has endured his share of life's problems, and some that only belong to the rich. The two brothers have kept away from each other because of their own guilt. Walter made his choice in life to be educated and knew that Victor was saddled with supporting the fatherthus, foregoing his career.

And very Milleresque, the plot thickens with an important twist.

The lengthy play could have been shortened, because the best dramatic dialogue doesn't happen until the end of the 2nd act. But to Arthur Miller, that's where his expertise comes in, engrossing you in small dialogue, building the character's past, ideals, morality, etc.and then, time to create those certain twists he is familiar for.

The successful four-character,two-act play first appeared on Broadway in 1968. Victor's wife, Esther, and the aging antique dealer, Solomon, have secondary roles. The setting is in the attic of a Manhattan brownstone in the present time, 1968.The building is to be demolished; therefore Victor called upon Solomon to give him a price for the furnishings.Victor repeatedly asks for a price, but the "price" metorphorically becomes the price you pay in life for choices you made. Excellent play!!.....Rizzo

I recommend highly Arthur Miller's:
All My Sons (Penguin Classics)
A View from the Bridge (Penguin Plays)
... Read more