When I am sitting in a darkened theatre and an actor playing a dead president walks onstage, I usually let out a groan and try to comfort myself with the knowledge that I won't be awake for too much longer. I generally find that playwrights who tackle subjects of the not too far past tend to assume that audiences will automatically connect with the subject on stage because a) they lived through the events being re-created, or b) they are young history/politic buffs who just love this sort of thing. I fall into neither of those categories, and therefore have had to suffer while watching such snoozefests as "Nixon's Nixon" (a conversation between Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger on the eve of the resignation), "Golda's Balcony" (Golda Meir rambling about Israeli politics) and "The Accomlices" (evil FDR and American Government v The Jews). Why everyone was raving about those dry readings from history textbooks disguised as "drama" was totally lost on me.
So, I'm sure you can imagine how much I was looking forward to "Frost/Nixon" - what promised to be an oh so lively discussion between a talk show host I'd never heard of and a president I don't care much about.
Well, leave it to Brit Peter Morgan, the writer who made Queen Elizabeth interesting in "The Queen," to breathe life into American politics. And, in fact, just as Helen Mirren's brilliant acting made "The Queen"s a can't miss event, so does Frank Langella's Richard Nixon make "Frost/Nixon" a must-see.
Based on the little I knew about him, the basic image of Nixon that I had in my head was a man with pointy horns sticking out of his head, dancing around in flames, with his arms up in that signature pose. Well, Frank Langella totally erased that image from my head because get this - he actually makes Nixon into an extremely likeable and extremely sympathetic figure. I left the play basically wondering why everyone hates him so much. Sure, there was that little Watergate thing, but that seems like a bit of making a mountain out of a molehill.
Maybe it's because "Frost/Nixon" was written for a British audience who presumably know less about American history than Americans (ha... Americans knowing about American history... ha ha) but, he thankfully takes the time to explain all of the background information behind Nixon and his resignation, and everything leading up to the interview with David Frost - who we all learn all about. And he somehow manages to do this without making it feel like we're stuck in history class listening to a textbook. The play manages to be constantly riveting, leaving the audience wondering what is going to happen next - even if in the back of out minds we really do know all along.
Michael Sheen (aka Tony Blair in "The Queen") makes a very likeable David Frost. And Frank Langella, well... he is nothing short of brilliant as Nixon. His performance alone would make this play a must see. The fact that there is a compelling script and wonderful supporting performances is really icing on tasty tasty cake.
For some reason "Frost/Nixon" doesn't seem to be getting as much hype as I'd expect. I'm not sure why - maybe it's that the snob audience is still sleeping at the Hotel Beaumont (home to "Coast of Utopia") but "Frost/Nixon" is totally entertaining and the best drama of the 2006-07 Broadway season.
On Saturday, I finally went to see "No Child..." - Nilaja Sun's solo play about being a teaching artist in a school in the Bronx. I've been wanting to see it for a while and now since it's closing at the beginning of June, I finally went (with a tdf ticket). And I have to say that the show is indeed well worth seeing. The basic story is that Sun, through a government grant, is assigned to a nightmarish class in an inner city school and tries to get them to study and perform a play. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to figure out what happens. The play is funny and moving. Sun plays all of the roles including the narrating janitor, herself, and her entire class plus its teachers, the school principal, the school security guard, and a couple more characters. The play has been hyped a lot, and though I wasn't really looking forward to it, despite said hype (mostly because I never looking forward to solo plays), I thought this was well worth seeing. Well acted, well written, etc. Oh, and it's only 65 minutes long (well, with starting five minutes late, it's more like 70) - though to be perfectly honest, this was one of those rare instances where I wouldn't have minded if it was a bit longer. I didn't really want it to end.
