The Man Who Had All the Luck (Library Edition Audio CDs) [Audio CD]

Arthur Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2007

The Man Who Had All The Luck is a charming story of the fate of a young Midwestern man whose fortune shines on him while it passes over everyone else around him. The play wrestles with the unanswerable - the question of the justice of fate, and how it is that one man fails and another, no more or less capable, achieves some glory in life.

A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Emily Bergl, Kevin Chamberlin, Tim DeKay, James Gammon, Lee Garlington, Graham Hamilton, Tom McGowan, Kurtwood Smith, Russell Soder, Tegan West

Editorial Reviews

Review

In Miller s very first play, life gives a young man just what he needs and wants a wife and property, a thriving motor repair business, a son. But it all drives him distracted as he waits for the misfortune he perceives to be inevitable. Those around him, some of them tragically luckless, react in ways supportive and not. The play is a somewhat uneasy mix of comedy and drama, realism and fable, Miller and Thornton Wilder. It s an interesting and engaging work nevertheless. While there are few moments of great dramatic excitement, there are also no flaws. Pacing is good, and every cast member is solid, capable, and professional. While this production will especially intrigue Miller aficionados, it should interest any listener. --AudioFile Magazine

About the Author

Arthur Miller, born in 1915, has twice won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and in 1949 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.<BR><BR> Christopher Bigsby, a professor of American studies at the University of East Anglia, has written or edited some thirty books, including <I>The Portable Arthur Miller</I>.

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Product Details

• Audio CD: 1 pages
• Publisher: L.A. Theatre Works (June 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580813720
• ISBN-13: 978-1580813723
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,311,401 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was born in New York City in 1915 and studied at the University of Michigan. He was awarded the Avery Hopwood Award for Playwrighting at University of Michigan in 1936. He twice won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, received two Emmy awards and three Tony Awards for his plays, as well as a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. He also won an Obie award, a BBC Best Play Award, the George Foster Peabody Award, a Gold Medal for Drama from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the Literary Lion Award from the New York Public Library, the John F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Algur Meadows Award. He received honorary degrees from Oxford University and Harvard University and was awarded the Prix Moliere of the French theatre, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Lifetime Achievement Award and the Pulitzer Prize, as well as numerous other awards. He was named the Jefferson Lecturer for the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2001. He was awarded the 2002 Prince of Asturias Award for Letters and the 2003 Jerusalem Prize.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "... When God Drops the Other Shoe", December 15, 2007

By 

JMack (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The Man Who Had All the Luck (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

After initially failing, "The Man Who Had All the Luck" sat in wait on the mind of Arthur Miller for more than fifty years. Only a few years before his death, Miller made some new accomodations to the story that left many wondering where such a wonderful work could have been hidden all of this time. I anticipate seeing the popularity of this show growing even further in future years.

David Beeves is a young man in the shadows of success when the story begins. Yet as the story progress, luck seems to find him in every circumstance. His businesses thrive and his personal relationship are more than viable. This pattern does not go unnoticed by the other characters such as Amos Beeves, the scorned major league baseball player and David's brother. Everybody is waiting for the moment "when God drops the other shoe." In a twist, David makes an unholy bargain that against his luck. The twist creates the high level of emotional tension that is a trademark of Miller's best work and creates an ending that does not disappoint.

While it is certainly less well known, "The Man Who Had All the Luck" deserves to be recognized with Miller's other great works. I would welcome the opportunity to see a live performance of this show in the future.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tempting fate, March 22, 2008

By 

H. Schneider "Hamlet" (Pandistan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Man Who Had All the Luck (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Even the most influential playwright must start somewhere.
Miller started on Broadway with this play, which got axed after 4 performances, as it should. He was in his mid 20s, the time was the early 40s. The play, which he called a fable, is awfull. The play should have stayed dead, but Miller was stubborn and revised it and got it resurrected after a half century and staged again with some success, as it really should not have. I think this shows that a big effort in a production can make nearly anything look attractive. Like cosmetic surgery.
The main character, the title person who has all the luck, is a totally unbelievable and uninteresting guy. From the whole population of the play, only the father who insists on making his son a baseball star is anywhere near interesting or plausible. I know little of baseball, but this theme of overdone paternal zeal is at least a well known pattern, even if the specifics of his misguided methods look a bit unrealistic to me.
The other story elements, mainly the car repair part and the mink feeding part, are of outstanding incredibility. It seems Miller wanted to have real life problems showing how his hero is always lucky, but he does not convince. At least not me.
And the main suspense item about the birth of the baby son and related bets and efforts at bribing fate are nonsense.
Every writer has to start somewhere, but not all starts are worth preserving.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Case of Serendipity, August 30, 2009

By 

Mr. George Mcneil - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Man Who Had All the Luck (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Having seen a production of Arthur Miller's play - 'The Man Who Had All The Luck' - I was interested in, perhaps, putting the play on myself. I was looking for some help in explaining the background to the play and, hopefully, why Miller wrote it. I was not disappointed, this book has an excellent explanation at the beginning - this has helped a great deal - and the layout of the actual play is easily understood.
The intro explains the struggle with one's on destiny and the fact that it was originally written as a story with the suicide of the protagonist at the end of the story and why Miller changed it on writing it as a play.
The play is set in America during the moral milaise of the Depression in the 30's and Miller is also thinking about Europe and the rise if Nazis. Again this is an underlying thread explained at the beginning. The introduction is by a Christopher Bigsby and he has to be congratulated in the way he has explained why the play took more than 50 years to be appreciated and, as he put it, 'the first stirrings of a genius that would go on to blossom in such masterpeices as death of a Salesman' and 'The Crucible'.