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Retirement is painless for actor Allan Arbus. In fact, the veteran of an 11-year hitch on television's "MASH" says it has been a delight.
But nearing his 83rd birthday, Arbus, after a year out of action, has set aside music-filled days of leisure to play one last part he could not resist. He will be Gregory Solomon, the extraordinary 89- year-old furniture dealer in Arthur Miller's "The Price."
"This is hell, but I'm not sorry," Arbus said before a recent rehearsal for the Laguna Playhouse production, which begins previews Tuesday before opening on Saturday.
Arbus is a small, sharp-featured man with a scruff of beard, a thick, curly head of hair, and a refined and deliberate way of speaking--not exactly guarded, but precise and considered. He was not confessing to strain or second thoughts; it's just that rehearsals were at what he calls the "awkward stage" before costumes, scenery and decisions on how the actors will move onstage have been worked out to give a clear picture of what will emerge.
"The Price," first seen in 1968 and revived last year on Broadway, is crafted like a sturdy, well-designed piece of furniture- -perhaps not unlike some of the prime items Solomon covets in the attic full of long-abandoned stuff that provides the play's setting and triggers its action.
Estranged brothers Victor and Walter Franz have come to dispose of the hoard of furnishings that belonged to their father. The market crash of 1929 had cost him his fortune and his will to keep working and striving. To support his father, Victor sacrificed a chance to pursue his passion for science. Now the middle-aged New York City cop is stuck in mediocrity, boredom and resentment, and is losing the respect of his money- and status-obsessed wife. Walter, unencumbered by any sense of responsibility to the family, has gone on to become a wealthy, accomplished surgeon.
Reunited after 16 years, the brothers dig uneasily through their past until the price each has paid for his choices becomes plain. This happens as they wrangle over the price that Solomon, the dealer, should receive for the load of furniture.
No mere engine of plot, Solomon is a humorous, insightful, sympathetic yet ultimately helpless onlooker as the unresolvable family...