`SALESMAN' FOLLOWS KLUGMAN'S STRONG LEAD.

Byline: Reed Johnson Daily News Theater Critic

Notwithstanding its iconic central character, ``Death of a Salesman'' is, of course, a great ensemble show. More than the tragedy of a deluded dreamer's downfall, Arthur Miller's 1949 masterpiece investigates an entire family's pent-up hopes and angers, stemming from its members' collective inability to connect with each others' deepest emotional needs.

In Andrew J. Robinson's taut, explosive production at Burbank's Falcon Theatre, Jack Klugman gets top billing as the scrappy, beleaguered Brooklyn salesman - and rightfully so. It's pretty well-known that Klugman lost one of his vocal cords to a 1989 operation that might've silenced his career.

Here, he turns his tattered instrument into a surprising asset. Though distracting for the first five minutes, his raspy baritone lends an uncommon poignancy to his performance, as if life's accumulated travails had corroded even Willy's means of expressing his terrible pain. Klugman's words may be stretched thin, but they're never lost or misplaced.

His bullying, quick-tempered Willy sets the tone for the entire production, unleashing a lacerating anger that sweeps us along like a Santa Ana wind. Later, as defeat closes in, Klugman's face goes slack, his mouth oddly puckered, almost comic with inaudible bewilderment. It's like seeing Buster Keaton doing Edvard Munch's ``The Scream.'' Though his performance basically consists of one or two notes, Klugman bends, blasts and flutters those notes with enviable authority.

He's well-matched by Nancy Lineham Charles, who eschews the typical long-suffering qualities of Willy's wife, Linda, in favor of a proud, comely stoicism. She's the production's emotional fulcrum.

As Happy, Willy's chip-off-the-old-block younger son, James Calvert conveys the doubtful jocularity of an aging frat-house president. Raphael Sbarge lays aside two generations of over-intellectualized, James Dean-ish Biffs, playing Willy's eldest son as the impulsive, childlike soul he is. For once, Biff doesn't sound like some distant New York cousin of ``The Glass Menagerie's'' Tom Wingfield.

Elsewhere, Gibson Frazier finds a nervy core to the nerdy Bernard, Steven Gilborn is a terrifically sly but compassionate Charley (Bernard's father), and James Karen gives Willy's brother Ben the ruthless, imperious air of an Old South plantation owner. They're all well worth your time.

THE FACTS

What: ``Death of a Salesman.''

Where: Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank.

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays; through Oct. 25.

Tickets: $25. Call [phone].

Our rating: Three Stars.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Jack Klugman

Assertive performance