Los Angeles Times

His ‘Eisenhower’ worth the field trip

John Rubinstein’s earnest performanc­e at Hudson MainStage elevates production.

- CHARLES McNULTY THEATER CRITIC

Living memory of Dwight D. Eisenhower is growing fainter with every year. But “Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground,” starring a perfectly cast John Rubinstein, brings our 34th president back to life in a straightfo­rward biographic­al drama that’s filled with timely political lessons from a leader who strove to put country over party.

The play by Richard Hellesen, which had its world premiere in October at Theatre West in a presentati­on created by New L.A. Repertory Company and is now playing at the Hudson MainStage Theatre, wears its earnestnes­s on its sleeve. A whiff of Wikipedia has proved to be no deterrent. The production, directed by Peter Ellenstein, has been extended through Jan. 22 and there’s even talk of an off-Broadway run.

It’s heartening to see audiences flock to a work that takes an educationa­l approach to American history.

Citizens still want to learn about their government and the difficult choices their elected officials have been forced to make in response to crises, domestic and foreign.

But the main reason to see “Eisenhower” is the solid performanc­e by Rubinstein, who assumes the role with such concentrat­ed ease that it’s as if a figure known to some only through grainy news footage and the term “military industrial complex” (which he famously issued as a warning) has been allowed a temporary reprieve from death to talk some sense into a nation that has lost its way.

There’s a homespun statelines­s to Rubinstein’s portrayal of Ike, who in the study of his post-presidency home in Gettysburg, Penn., reviews the central episodes of his life. An oldfashion­ed story, as American as apple pie, the saga begins at the beginning, at the sternly loving family center of his boyhood days that led up to his education at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Heroism isn’t the point of the survey that follows. The military career of Eisenhower, who served as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expedition­ary Force in Europe during World War II and who attained the five-star rank of General of the Army, is discussed in relationsh­ip to his work as a politician determined to secure European peace by standing against isolationi­sm and the America First movement.

The frame of the play is rudimentar­y. Eisenhower is ruing his low ranking in a list of American presidents that a group of 75 historians has devised for a New York Times feature. He decides to tell his own story to set the record straight.

There’s a formulaic stiffness to this biographic­al recap, which seems built more around a lesson plan than a dramatic plot. The speechifyi­ng tone of the language Hellesen offers Eisenhower precludes any sense of intimacy. The public man takes precedence over the private one in a production that compounds this effect with a staging that resembles a class exhibit or diorama.

But Rubinstein, who won a Tony for his performanc­e in “Children of a Lesser God,” delivers the social studies goods with aplomb. He deserves a more complex portrait but delves wholeheart­edly into the political conundrums of a president who in the simple act of owning his own mistakes sets an important example of the kind of leadership that’s in too short supply these days.

 ?? Pierre Lumiere ?? JOHN RUBINSTEIN portrays the post-presidency leader reviewing his life and legacy in “Eisenhower.”
Pierre Lumiere JOHN RUBINSTEIN portrays the post-presidency leader reviewing his life and legacy in “Eisenhower.”

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