Reviewed by Judy Richter
Helping San Jose Repertory
Theatre launch
its 30th anniversary season, Ed Asner performed his one-man show, "FDR," just six times in
mid-July, but it deserves to have run longer than that.
Based
on Dore Schary's
Broadway hit, "Sunrise at Campobello," this 95-minute, one-act drama features
Asner as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who led the nation during two of
its greatest crises -- the Great Depression and World War II. It opens with a
recorded speech by Roosevelt in 1933. Then Asner comes onstage in a wheelchair
and launches into his story.
He
talks about his 1921 bout with polio that left him virtually paralyzed for a
time, but gradually he recovered enough that he could get up from his
wheelchair and walk short distances, mainly with the aid of two canes. The
script switches between Roosevelt talking directly to the audience and then
with various people throughout his political career, including his stint as
governor of New York and then election to the first of his four presidential
terms in 1932. The story doesn't go into great detail about all the programs he
launched to lift the country from the Depression. It does allude to his
frustration with the Supreme Court and thoughts of expanding it to 15 justices.
His
love for his five children comes through, as does his love and respect for his
wife, Eleanor, whom he calls Babs. In one scene, he even alludes to his affair
with Lucy Mercer and says that Eleanor knew about it and eventually accepted
it. Other associates who figure prominently in the play are Louis Howe, a
longtime political adviser; and "Missy" LeHand, his secretary.
Much
is made of Roosevelt's concern about the stirrings of World War II in Europe
and his frustration with U.S. isolationists. Still, he managed to send arms to
help England defend itself against Hitler. Finally, there's the fateful bombing
of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941. This scene is filled with
phone call after phone call as the president hears the news and subsequent
developments and deals with the crisis. As the war neared its end in 1945,
shortly into Roosevelt's fourth term, he talks about how tired he is and how
much he's looking forward to getting a good rest at Warm Springs, Ga. He says
this as he walks offstage, leaving the audience to fill in the knowledge that
Roosevelt died at Warm Springs on April 12, 1945.
The
program doesn't credit a director or designers although Ron Nash is listed as production
supervisor and production stage manager. The set is simple, dominated by a desk
and two U.S. flags. Asner is superb as Roosevelt, not obviously trying to
imitate him, yet becoming quite believable. Thus the pleasure is in seeing this
accomplished actor live (most know him best as Lou Grant in TV's "The
Mary Tyler Moore Show")
and in receiving an enlightening history lesson about one of the nation's
greatest presidents.
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