Resurrection Blues

Resurrection Blues (2002) is Arthur Miller's penultimate play. Though Miller was not known for his humor, this play uses a pointed comedic edge to intensify his observations about the dangers, as well as the benefits, of blind belief: political, religious, economic and emotional.

The story is set in an unnamed Latin American country that is painfully third world. The plot revolves around a captured prisoner who may or may not be the second coming of Christ, though Miller deliberately leaves the divinity of his unseen protagonist ambiguous. He is said to be able to perform miracles such as walk through walls, a major problem for the prison guards, and, because his popularity among the impoverished citizens, the military dictator of the nation has sentenced him to be crucified. This creates many moral dilemmas with the play's cast of characters, which include a wealthy land-owner who is the cousin of the dictator, his depressed daughter—a close friend of the accused—and an American television production team that arrives to broadcast the crucifixion.

The plot has six central characters:

Other characters include the filming crew, an omnipresent military and the captain of the police who is respectful of Henri Schultz because of his wealth.

Resurrection Blues originally premiered August 9, 2002, at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, under the artistic direction of Joe Dowling. This world premiere was directed by Minnesota native David Esbjornson. The cast featured John Bedford Lloyd as General Felix Barreaux, Jeff Weiss, and Laila Robins. Arthur Miller chose the Guthrie Theater for the play's debut, citing the quality of its audiences and the outdatedness of premiering a play on Broadway. Miller continued to work on the script up until his death in 2005 although the Minneapolis production of the original script fared far better than the later production at the Old Vic in London.

The East Coast premiere of Resurrection Blues debuted at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 2, 2003. The production was directed by Jiri Zizka. The cast featured Munson Hicks, Patrick Husted, Lindsay Smiling, Gretchen Egolf, Doug Wert, William Zielinski, Miriam A. Hyman, Patricia Ageheim, Douglas Rees, Jennifer A. Brown, David Dallas, Patrick Doran, Ralph Edmonds, Karen McArthur, and Michael Speer.

...
Wikipedia