Works in Progress Inside five spring productions before opening night. Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf in Death of a Salesman , 17 days before previews. Photo: Mark Seliger Director Joe Mantello has been thinking of mounting a production of Death of a Salesman since 1995. While directing Nathan Lane in Terrence McNally’s Love! Valour! Compassion! that same year Mantello realized he’d found his ideal Willy Loman. “I didn’t have a fully articulated reason — I just had a gut sense that beneath