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"All My Sons" is a powerful drama, and while I'd be the first to say it doesn't need much more than a simple set and great acting, I do confess Simon McBurney's radical direction – over the top as it is – works.

Think of it as Arthur Miller seen through the eyes of Brecht doing Greek tragedy with a filmmaker's sensibility. Got that? Let's just say it has to be seen to be believed, but like it or not, it rates a resounding, "wow!"

Set in 1947, the story of suburban family man Joe Keller, his wife Kate, son Chris, and girlfriend-next-door Annie, is the American dream gone terribly wrong. McBurney creates a hyper-reality, with the offstage actors all assembled in plain view like some Greek chorus. The effect propels the melodrama to the level of epic tragedy.

Joe's manufacturing business three years earlier shipped out defective airplane parts during the war, causing the deaths of 21 pilots. Joe was exonerated after insisting he didn't know about the bad parts.

Miller builds suspense masterfully and McBurney seizes every opportunity to play it at fever pitch. Projections flash across a giant upstage wall, an ominous soundtrack punctuates the action, and the actors are loud and emotional. As Joe's innocence falls into doubt, the play deepens and McBurney's stylizing adds urgency to Miller's indictment of the American obsession with money and the moral bankruptcy that results.

Six decades later, it feels as timely as ever.

But, take away all the frills and it's still essential viewing. The big question mark: Katie Holmes as Annie. Making her stage debut, she is lovely, if at times overly energetic. Far from the caliber of her powerhouse co-stars, she still manages to hold her own.

Patrick Wilson has the tough challenge of whip-lashing from idealistic son to disillusioned cynic. He pulls it off with gusto and finesse. Diane Wiest shatters your heart as a protective lioness of a mother keeping a family secret while refusing to accept that her other son is dead. And John Lithgow playing the villain as everyman gives it his all in a performance that pulses with great flawed humanity.

I found the production richly rewarding, though there were moments when the technical enhancements did overpower the narrative. Does Miller really need all of this extra stuff? Absolutely not! But so solid is his writing, it doesn't hurt. In this case, McBurney and company's unique vision supplies a dimension that somehow distills this 61-year-old drama to its universal essence.