The Rockaway Post Theatre Company Presents “A View From the Bridge,” A review by Nino Pantano

The Rockaway Post Theatre Company presented an exciting production of Arthur Miller’s play A View From the Bridge on Saturday evening, October 6th. The company is located in Fort Tilden, an old historic Army installation between Riis Park & Breezy Point in the Rockaways. This whole area is now part of Gateway National Park along with Floyd Bennett Field which was a prominent air field in World War I & II.

A View from a Bridge was written by Arthur Miller in 1955 as part of a two, short-play production. He re-wrote it as a two act play the following year.

Miller,a renowned Brooklynite (1915-2005) lived in the  Heights and we would sometimes see him or author Norman Mailer walking around  the neighborhood. Arthur Miller and his wife Marilyn Monroe often dined at Cafiero’s Restaurant, a legendary eatery that is now an artist’s loft, nearby.

My father Santo (Sam) Pantano had a Florsheim Shoe Store on Columbia Street in the 1940’s and 1950’s and he was privy to the gangsters and characters of South Brooklyn. As a young man, I would walk to the shoe store from my school, St. Francis College. At that time, St. Francis was on Court and Butler, which was near Ebel’s Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor and the legendary College Bakery.

The “old timers” still call it Red Hook or South Brooklyn and have never really embraced the “new” and uppity name of Carroll Gardens. The neighborhood has changed now but the Italian flavoring still strongly exists on Union Street with Mazzola’s Pastry shop, the famed House of Pizza & Calzone (operated in the “old days” by the legendary much loved Giovanni (John) Teutonico and Onofrio Gaudiso.)

They still occasionally visit current owner Paul DiAgostino, and like all of us, are so happy that the tradition is held sacred and continues to this day with great pizza and calzone. Ferdinando’s Focacceria (Sicilian) has been a staple since 1904 and is among the oldest Sicilian restaurants in New York City.

The great Italian actor Raf Vallone as Eddie Carbone. dined there when filming A View from the Bridge (with Carole Lawrence). Recent visitors include actress beauty Maria Grazia Cucinotta (IL Postino), Pierce Brosnan, (James Bond) Sean Penn and Martin Scorsese among others. Owner/Manager Francesco Buffa and friendly staff are proud of the Pasta con le Sarde, Vlastede, Panelles and Arangini (Riceballs) among other Sicilian favorites. On nearby Court Street, Court Pastry, Caputo’s Bakery, Monteleone’s Pastry, Esposito’s Pork Store, Mazzone’s Hardware and a few others are still active in the neighborhood. Eddie Carbone would still feel at home.

Virgilio Santamaria was a photographer who lived upstairs from my father’s store. He had a cousin, the nuclear scientist Enrico Fermi who told my Uncle Cologero (Kelly) in a moment of levity, that thanks to the unions, the longshoremen lived better than he did. The great tenor Enrico Caruso sailed back to Italy to die in May 192,1 with his wife Dorothy and baby Gloria from Pier 7 nearby waving to the multitudes who saw him off. A decade earlier, Caruso, surrounded by police and undercover, went to Van Brunt Street to capture suspected Mafiosi who threatened him and his family. They were two out of work Italian immigrants who desperately needed money. Ever faithful to his fellow Italians, Caruso was the first one to sign a petition to have them released. Inspector Joseph Petrosino intervened years before to protect the great tenor from Mafia threats. (See the film Pay or Die (1960) with Ernest Borgnine as Inspector Petrosino). The legendary dwarf called “Mondo the Midget” was a Gallo family gangster wannabee whose job was to feed the pet lion the Gallo family “adopted” to put fear in the hearts of their creditors.

It was a rich textured neighborhood and Arthur Miller, sitting in Montero’s Bar along the taverns on Atlantic Avenue, first heard the story that inspired A View from the Bridge. It is Italian oral tradition conceived in whispers, the disgrace and tragedy of Eddie Carbone. If only Eddie Carbone had listened to the soothsayer, the lawyer Alfieri.

The setting is Red Hook, Brooklyn in the 1950’s. The ominous sounds of horns and seagulls filled the theater with the cacophony of the Red Hook waterfront. Alfieri the lawyer, narrates the tale, like a Greek chorus and is very much a “Beware the Ides of March” prophet. Bernard Feinerman, a well known actor from Brooklyn Heights, was an almost Biblical figure, a “wise” man, a prophet raising his voice against a tide that Eddie Carbone embraced. His advice to Eddie is simple pure truth, but it  falls on “deaf” ears. Alfieri warns Eddie repeatedly not to pursue what he is feeling, but Eddie stubbornly holds his old beliefs which consume him and swallow him whole. Feinerman’s excellent diction, emphasis on truth, nobility of utterance, wisdom in law and religion, made him a prophet without honor, an eloquent angel who could not break the wall that the devil set up. In Sicily, honor supersedes law! “You can NEVER have her, Eddie – only GOD makes Justice.” Alfieri’s advice to Eddie, “Let her go and give her your blessing!” was not heeded. Mr. Feinerman gave us a haunting and unforgettable performance that evoked Charlton Heston’s biblical Moses. The striking blazing reds of the backdrop gave us grandeur and the illusion of a Cinemascope film. Frank Caiati is a talent combo of Frank Capra, David Lean and Cecil B. DeMille. 2)

Eddie Carbone was portrayed by Robert Wilkinson who gave a searing and soaring performance and was a stubborn and complex character who evoked sympathy from his audience, never contemptA question – in the final, fatal scene with Marco, perhaps subliminal – does Eddie fall on the knife to end it all?

Melanie Mahanna was utterly captivating as Catherine, niece and the “adopted” child of Eddie and Beatrice. She had a sweetness that was beguiling and a “naivete” that was part of the adolescent package

Jodee Timpone was superb as Eddie’s wife. Her slow awakening to Eddie’s problem was like watching a favorite painting melt from too much steam on a cold day. She slowly fell apart, the sameness of their life in Red Hook, his hard work as a longshoreman, hers, cooking and caring for their niece and feeling the chill still of his cooling feelings for her

Rodolpho was in the skilled hands of Matthew Barrera. Rodolpho, illegal immigrant was “different.” He loved to sing (Paper Doll, a 1950’s song by the Mills Brothers) he could repair dresses and had an almost effete range of interests

Marco was brilliantly portrayed by Guido Corno. Marco has a wife and children in Sicily who he helps support by coming to the United States to work and help. When he finds out that someone has called the immigration police (Submarines) he spits at Eddie. He and Eddie fight and Eddie gets stabbed and dies.

This was a perfect performance of a great work and the wonderful and appreciative audience who applauded and cheered with great enthusiasm in the “wilds” of an oasis at The Rockaway Post Theatre.

Red Hook today has Fairway and Ikea and some new buildings but some of the old “City Island”  type areas remain. Sessa’s Bank is gone from Union Street as is Frank Sacco’s Department Store, several movie theatres such as the “Happy Hour” and “The Luna” are gone as are the Sicilian puppet shows (with Orlando Furioso – giant puppets Medieval armor battling Malagiggi the villain). Ocean liners come in now and dock nearby. Rents and property values have escalated. The iconic swimming pool and parks remain. The housing project,s once Scandinavian and Italian, are still here as is the imposing Church of the Visitation. The pushcarts and small family owned stores are gone. But Eddie Carbone’s days are memories and dust in the passage of time and a chill in the ocean breeze.

Nino Pantano has been reviewing theater and opera since at least the 1960’s. He is a former schoolteacher and lifelong resident of Carroll Gardens (on both sides of the BQE). He still lives in the neighborhood with his wife Judy.