THE WAR AT HOME IN ``ALL MY SONS'.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

The Lomans and the Procters may get the bulk of the ink when people talk about Arthur Miller. But how about those Kellers? How golden they are - and how resounding their downfall!

And how deeply Randall Arney and the cast of ``All My Sons'' at the Geffen Playhouse make us take the plunge right along with them.

This is one of the strongest ensembles to work a Miller play. There's Len Cariou (Broadway's ``Sweeney Todd'') as patriarch Joe Keller, whose business practices during World War II may have cost lives, including that of his son, Larry. Laurie Metcalf (like her director, a Steppenwolf Theatre Company veteran) is Joe's wife, Kate.

The role of surviving Keller son Chris, whose social and familial idealism is put to a harsh test, is in the hands of Neil Patrick Harris, a performer of such consistent stage savvy and charisma that he's probably now too good for TV (He's on ``How I Met Your Mother''). And L.A. newcomer Amy Sloan ups the stakes even further, playing Ann Deever, Larry Keller's former girlfriend, now in love with Chris.

The expertise in no way stops with the topliners. Wandering through the skyward-reaching trees that flank the Keller property (Robert Blackman's high and homey set conveys an air of a neighborhood centered around this back porch) are an assortment of neighbors and visitors, each with a connection to the Kellers. Every last one of Arney's performers - no matter the duration of his or her role - leaves an impression.

They include Morgan Rusler as a helpful doctor with unfulfilled dreams of his own, Robin Riker as his too-plain speaking wife, and Megan Austin Oberle, a young mother with three babies (unseen) and maybe a few regrets about the way life turned out (quite visible). Those Kellers - so prosperous, despite the loss of Larry - tend to make anyone in their orbit want to lead better lives.

Until, that is, the chain of events that Miller has packed into the single day and night covered by ``All My Sons.'' Ann has arrived from New York. Chris plans to marry her, but the news must be conveyed delicately to Kate, who clings to the belief that Larry will return, and that Ann is still his girl.

Meanwhile, Ann's brother George (Chris Payne Gilbert) pays a visit to their imprisoned father, Joe's former business partner in an arms-manufacturing factory. He went to prison when it was determined that cracked cylinder heads from the Keller factory led to the deaths of 21 pilots. Joe Keller was at home, sick, the day the shoddy order went through. Much bitterness and resentment will boil to the surface, and secrets will be laid bare.

If this has the air of something out of Greek tragedy, well, that's what the playwright intended, and what Arney's production conveys.

Indeed, the show begins with heavy dramatics: the rumbling of a storm and the buzz of what sounds like artillery fire (smoothly executed by Richard Woodbury). A flash of lightning illuminates Kate Keller in her nightgown, staring at a newly fallen - and quite significant - tree. Two and a half hours later, at the play's expected but still shocking conclusion, all is calm once more. But hardly happy.

In between, we delight in watching Cariou playing a jovial, charming yet desperate man whose outbursts of pride seem to surprise even himself. Metcalf, so terrifying when her fury is unleashed, offers a Kate Keller so bottled with pain that she can barely walk straight. As their son, Harris takes Chris from the calm conviction of a man looking to start his life to the awful realization of what being a Keller (the name sounds like another word) truly means. His scenes with Sloan's excellent Ann are touching for their occasional awkwardness. ``All My Sons'' is also a love story.

Topical war play, love story or character study ...<NO1>either way <NO> it's a hell of a ride.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

ALL MY SONS - Three and one half stars

Where: Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood.

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 4:30 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday; through May 21.

Tickets: $35 to $69. [phone] or visit www.GeffenPlayhouse.com.

In a nutshell: In times of war and peace, Arthur Miller's topical morality tale burns hot, especially with Randall Arney's ensemble supplying the kerosene.

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Photo:

All is definitely not well stateside during World War II for the Keller family, represented here by Neil Patrick Harris, left, Laurie Metcalf and Len Cariou in ``All My Sons.''