The Ride Down Mt. Morgan: A Theatrical Review
Arthur Miller’s The Ride Down Mt. Morgan is currently playing at the Malibu Stage Company in Malibu California. This rather difficult look at the life of a bigamist and people that his selfish desires damages forces the audience to deal with the ethical and moral issues of treating others the way you want to be treated verses always making yourself and your own wants first, regardless of whom else you may damage in the process.
Extremely well-acted and performed, this production is not for the light hearted theatre attendee. You will be forced to deal with anger, hatred, disgust, and yes even understanding during the production. It will cause you to either change your ways and become a better and more REAL person, or it will cause you to be convicted with anger and disgust and want to prove to those you love that you could never actually treat them the way that these characters are treated. As play things of one man’s selfish greed and self-indulgence.
The only spotlight on this production must go to the overall message of the show, and thus to the writer, Arthur Miller. If you can walk out of this production without having had an emotional and possibly even physical reaction to it, you simply were not paying attention. That is what theatre is really all about. To move the soul of the attendee to action in some fashion and that is exactly what Arthur Miller has accomplished with this production.
This is NOT a show for children, and frankly speaking, if you are the victim of a spouse who has cheated on you in the past, this is probably not a show you want to see as your anger level will be riled as it has not been in some time. It is however a worthy production that causes thought provoking movement in the audience, and worth the time for those who know what they are getting themselves into before attending.
The Malibu Stage Theatre is located on Pacific Coast Highway near Zuma Beach in a lovely gardened area right off the highway. Their actual address is 29243 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, CA 90265, and tickets can be purchased by calling 310-589-1998, or logging onto the web at www.malibustagecompany.org, or www.brownpapertickets.com.
Enjoy!
Randall Gray
The California Theatre Critic
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