Given the
state of American politics, I wonder if a revival of Gore Vidal’s play
"The Best Man"–or as it has been rechristened, "Gore
Vidal’s The Best Man"–could
be anything but timely, no
matter when it was produced,
but perhaps now more than ever, as media savvy generations watch the current
Presidential race with various degrees of horror and bemusement.
Because
the themes of dirty vs. clean politicking are so present in real-life today,
the 1960 play comes with the built-in kick of instant audience identification–plus
the requisite laughs of recognition, and partisan applause when moral scruples,
however briefly or diluted, win over backstabbing, muckraking, shady deals and
moral turpitude. And of course, Mr. Vidal being justifiably known as the bard
of American politics, there is a good deal of wit in the banter and the
backroom–well, actually, hotel room–negotiation. The play is, after all, about the selection
of a presidential candidate at a convention in Philadelphia for an unspecified,
incumbent party.
When
this play was revived ten years ago (by the same producer), it seemed a bit
quainter than it does to me now. In part this is because I think overall, the
cast is firing at a higher octane.
Which
doesn’t hurt, because the characters are painted with broad brush-strokes: Our
hero and candidate of choice, Secretary Bill Russell (John Laroquette), not a perfect man by any means, but certainly a
good one; his unscrupulous opponent Senator Joseph Cantwell (Eric McCormack); and the sly, southern ex-President (James
Earl Jones) who makes it clear he
means to endorse not the better person, but the better leader. On the distaff side there’s Russell’s
sophisticated middle-aged wife Alice (Candace Bergen), loyal and devoted even though her husband’s
passion for her has died; Cantwell’s self-absorbed Southern belle trophy-wife (Kerry
Butler); and a powerful female
columnist who plays both sides like fiddles (Angela Lansbury). And on the plain old staff side, there are two
beleaguered campaign managers (Michael McKean for "our" guy, Corey Brill for the forces of darkness). And Jefferson
Mays plays a sad sack who,
ironically, may hold a flame to the fuse of a powder keg’s worth of scandal.
I
think another factor making this revival pop more than the last (which was
perfectly competent and fun, just not at this level) is the work of director Michael
Wilson—he has such an affinity for the world,
style and era of the play (including a terrific set, which conjures 60s news
coverage TV technology by, Derek McLane) that he seems almost to
have extricated the production from a time capsule. He has his cast of notables
perform in a very traditional Broadway style, one that is grand of gesture and
conspicuous of theatrical turn. I don’t mean to confuse this with over-acting, which would be quite another
matter–merely to say that this is not realism of any sort, slice-of-life,
lyric or other. We are clearly being told a ripping yarn, its actors are the
tellers of the tale, and they tell it with an engaging extravagance. Well, most
of them do. Laroquette and Bergen represent the reasoned center in the midst of
a crazed whirlpool, and because they are masters of light comedy, they manage,
each, to make a charismatic tour de force out of maintaining control; out of
being the ones who, in their way, see and speak on behalf of the audience point
of view. Which is theoretically the moral center as well.
One
must pause also to praise James Earl Jones. After several performances, over the years, that made one fear his
gifts of memory and technique were giving way, slowly, to age, he is back at
the top of his game here, playing the former president whose endorsement is the
high prize, with a robustness that goes beyond brio. It says something for Mr.
Wilson’s direction too that though the play is pointedly kept in its
alternate-but-accurate-universe 1960s setting, you don’t even question his
ethnicity. It doesn’t come off like “non-traditional casting,” even though,
obviously, that’s exactly what it is, to the point of potentially violating
verisimilitude. He walks onstage with the bearing and gravitas of an
ex-President of the 1960s and by God, you just accept it. He doesn’t give you
much choice. Rather like his character, his is a performance that doesn’t even
entertain no for an answer.
Because all you see is passion and patriotism.
He
makes you nostalgic for America just a little bit…
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