Salesman is top of the Line

 There's arguably no American drana more searing, unsettling and durable than "Death of a Salesman," Arthur Miller's 1949 Pulitzer Prize-winning portrait of postwar middle-class life.
 Or, for that matter, a character as inconic as the broken Brooklyn dreamer Willy Loman. Dustin Hoffman and Brian Dennehy turned the role into Broadway Showcases.
 In Mike Nichols' powerful and emotionally rich revival at Barrymore, Philip Seymour Hoffman resists playing Willy as larger than life, but to scale. As a result, the play has never felt more like an ensemble drama.
 That fits. It's a story of a desperate family, not just the delusional dad.
 Philip Seymour Hoffman(an Oscar winner for"Capote") portays Willy with vivid and, mostly, assured and measured strokes. He's expert at expressing Willy's soul-crushing sadness. He occasionally overdoes his rage: Louder volume doesn't mean bigger impact.
 As Linda, his quietly long suffering wife, Linda Emond proves sure and steady and heart-stirring-never more so than when she reads her sons the riot act in the famous "Attention must be paid" speech. But listen to how she always says Willy's name-rolling those l's together-and it's clear she loves saying it. And, despite everthing, him.
 Andrew Garfield, the British American film actor from "The Social Network" and the upcoming "The Amazing Spider Man," makes an impressive New York stage debut as Biff. Besides nailing a Brooklyn accent, he squeezes out every drop of poignancy as the lost Loman son. Finn Wittrock, another Broadway newcomer, completes the Loman family as the studly but stony Happy. With Garfield and Hoffman, he turns a dinner that begins as a celebration but curdles into a deeply affecting scene that hits hard and is impossible to shake.
 Lending strong support are Bill Camp as the Loman's generous neighbor Charley; Fran Kranz as His Son Bernard, who goes from loser to success, and John Glover as Willy's brother Ben,a talking vision of the American Dream.
 Miller's play, originally called "The Inside of His Head," unfolds in a stream of current conversations and memories. Nichols' decision to re-create Jo Mielziner's ingenious skeletal set is a brilliant one. Scenes bleed cinematically, blurring past and present. Alex North's original music, which begins with a mournful flute, adds its own eloquence.
 "Death of a Salesman" has proven prophetic. Over the decades millions of Willy Lomans have looked for a hand from companies and gotten a slap.
 As Willy would say:"Isn't that a remarkable thing"
 Also remarkable, we never really know what Willy sells mostly, he tries to hawk himself to businesses, his family, himself. Finally, tragically, nobody's buying.
                                                    Joe Dziemianowicz jdziemianowicz@nydailynews.com