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The Best Man
By Gore Vidal
Directed by James Bohnen
Produced by Remy Bumppo think theatre
At Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theatre
2257 N. Lincoln
Chicago, IL
Call 773-871-3000, tickets $35 - $40
Wednesdays at 7:30 (with matinees on Wed Oct 4 & 18)
Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 PM
Sundays at 2:30 PM
Running time is 2 hours, 40 minutes with intermission
Through November 5, 2006
Brilliant script and strong acting make The Best Man come alive
Gore Vidal’s 1960 morality play is about the power struggle of two leading candidates for the Presidential nomination of their party. This is a sharply stinging treatises of how power is accumulated by those striving for the American Presidency. Gore Vidal is a prolific writer and political pundit whose 1960 play, The Best Man still carries weight today since it focuses on the use of personal mud-sling and dirty politics as a means of defeating a candidate for public office.
We meet Williams Russell (David Darlow), a wit and scholar, a pure liberal with patrician credentials. He is a former governor and Secretary of State who is an Adlai Stevenson clone. He is the front runner for the nomination. His main opponent is the ambitious and hard-driving, win-at-all-costs amoral Senator Joseph Cantwell (James Krag) a Richard Nixon clone. Both are seeking the endorsement of former President Arthur Hosckstader (Gene Janson) a Harry Truman clone.
The play revolves around the candidates maneuvering to get the delegate to vote for them at the upcoming Philadelphia National Convention. (Note: In the 1960’s most Presidential candidates were selected at the convention as primary elections were few.) Both Russell and Cantwell seek the ex-President’s endorsement as the key winning the nomination. Hockstader loves politics for their own sake and loves the game as he is determined to have the final say as the ‘king-maker.’ Gene Janson gives Hockstader the poise, polish and just enough down-home earthiness to establish his character as the powerful ex-President. Janson’s performance anchored the show. He drills each candidate down to their core in a commanding performance that begs award consideration.
Add outstanding work from David Darlow and James Krag as the candidates to the fine efforts from Annabel Armour as Alice Russell and Linda Gillum’s Mabel Cantwell and The Best Man becomes another tight exquisite Remy Bumppo production.
With a clever hotel suit set (designed by Tim Morrison) and precise staging that keeps the action moving, director James Bohnen allows the dramatic tension to develop as we wonder what Russell will do to assure that he wins the nomination. We see people caught up in the quest for power and we see how moral integrity or the lack there of can determine the course of history. There are clever twists here that are plausible. Will the statesman place his personal honor and integrity over his personal inquest for power? Vidal’s play offers a cautionary tale on the nature of the human quest for power. This is one of the finest political plays and one of the best productions of the year.
Highly Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: September 24, 2006
Jeff Recommende
Chicago Actor Charlie Beck Replaces Gene Janson in The Best Man
Performances Continue through Nov. 5 at Victory Gardens Greenhouse
CHICAGO—Artistic Director James Bohnen announced today that Charlie Beck, the understudy for the role of Ex-President Hockstader, would play the role originated by Gene Janson through the end of the run of The Best Man Nov. 5.
Gene Janson suffered a heart attack during the matinee of The Best Man on Wednesday, Oct. 4, and was pronounced dead later that afternoon at Lincoln Park Hospital.
The company cancelled the performance scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 5 in memorial of Gene’s passing. Performances commenced Oct. 6 and through the weekend with understudy Charlie Beck in the role. James Bohnen said, “Charlie was ready to perform, he’d shadowed Gene carefully during rehearsals, and has been a part of the process since August. We felt it was important to keep someone from within the production family in the role. Charlie has done a beautiful and thoughtful job of recreating the role.”
Remy Bumppo Theatre Company dedicates the remainder of the run of The Best Man to the memory of Gene Janson.
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