‘Gore Vidal’s The Best Man’ wins in this revival
A stellar cast and a light, dry touch keep things moving
NEW YORK — William Russell has a lot to recommend him as a presidential candidate. A former secretary of State, he’s smart as a whip, thoughtful and so fairminded that he objects to slinging mud even at a ruthless opponent poised to tar him with distorted personal information.
Sadly, Russell is also fictional. But you can catch him on the campaign trail in Gore Vidal’s The
Best Man ( ★★★ out of four), which opened Sunday at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.
Like the last Broadway revival of Vidal’s 1960 account of an unspecified party’s heated summer convention, this staging of the play arrives during an election year. If its idealized and obvious aspects are striking, it makes some prescient observations about the increasingly tricky business of choosing a leader of the free world.
The Best Man is less political satire than a combination of punditry and bittersweet fantasy, in which Russell is presented as the commander-in-chief we don’t deserve and could never have and his challenger, a young senator named Joseph Cantwell, as an abject hypocrite whose rise points to the rot in our system.
For those unfamiliar with Vidal’s politics, Russell is a proud liberal and Cantwell a darling of the conservative set — though the latter’s many flaws include a readiness to adapt his positions according to the polls. Cantwell is called a “ring-tailed wonder” more than once, and in a climactic confrontation, Russell hisses at him, “You are worse than a liar. You have no sense of right or wrong.”
As drama, The Best Man is soapy and self-righteous; fortunately, director Michael Wilson has assembled a cast of seasoned pros who manage a winningly dry, light touch. John Larroquette brings a mix of gravitas and ruefulness to Russell, whose only apparent shortcoming is trouble remaining faithful to his wife.
The wry, elegant Candice Bergen is perfectly cast as Alice Russell, who remains loyal and classy despite her distaste for the indignities of public life and for her beloved husband’s foibles. Michael Mckean offers a delightfully crisp, witty take on William’s harried campaign manager.
Eric Mccormack makes Cantwell a convincingly cool scoundrel, resisting the temptation to turn him into a cartoon character. Kerry Butler is more flamboyant as his crassly conniving wife, though it’s fun to see the actress — a veteran of feisty ingénue roles — test out her claws, as well as a saccharine-laced Southern accent.
Angela Lansbury, a joy to behold whenever she’s on stage, has relatively little time as the chairman of the party’s women’s division, but she delivers her lines with a seen-it-all piquance that’s worth the price of admission.
But the biggest, warmest laughs are provided by another venerable octogenarian: James Earl Jones, who clearly has a field day as jocular former president Artie Hockstader. Though a fundamentally decent fellow, Hockstader has no problem enjoying some of the tawdrier elements of the political game as a spectator.
Thanks to the sterling company here, neither will you.