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>> A DARK PERIOD IN U.S. HISTORY IS BROUGHT TO LIFE AT THE KENNEDY CENTER NIXON, FROST AND A SEARCH FOR TRUTH TRUTH
Frost/Nixon at the Kennedy Center brings back the Watergate era and Richard NixonDate published: 11/20/2008 For THE FREE LANCE-STAR WASHINGTON --"Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal."For anyone who wants to know why dramatist Peter Morgan ("The Last King of Scotland") has revisited a series of 30-year-old television interviews in his play "Frost/Nixon," that sentence says it all. Because Richard M. Nixon's response to David Frost's question about Nixon's actions in office should send a chill down every American citizen's spine. Nixon's presidency came to an end with his resignation on Aug. 9, 1974. In "Frost/Nixon," Morgan has relied heavily on the diaries of James Reston Jr., a writer and historian employed by Frost to do research on the Watergate cover-up. Morgan uses a figure named Jim Reston as the main narrator, tracing the show from the development of the idea through the actual taping. These were the first interviews Nixon granted after his resignation, and his acquiescence is widely seen as an effort to rehabilitate his image. Frost was also trying to burnish his image, which at the moment was of a fading light-weight TV talk-show host. There were disagreements on Frost's team about how to proceed, what questions to ask when. Nixon steamrollered Frost in the early segments but was finally brought to bay on the issue of obstructing justice. In the end, the interviewer got Nixon to admit that he had been involved in the cover-up and that he regretted his actions. The production currently onstage at the Kennedy Center stars Stacy Keach as Nixon and Alan Cox as David Frost. Although Keach is physically not that much like Nixon, he is easily able to convey the impression of the former president. When he comes lumbering to the front of the stage in white tie and tails with that toothy grin on his face, the resemblance is eerie. And Keach does a fine job of conveying what detractors called Nixon's hubris and pathos. Cox is equally convincing as the superficial playboy performer who, although in way over his head, manages to ride the tiger into the trap. Brian Sgambati and Ted Koch also deliver praiseworthy performances. Koch plays Col. Jack Brennan, Nixon's aide-de-camp, a passionate defender of his president's honor. Sgambati is equally passionate as Jim Reston, determined to give the American people the trial of Nixon that they had been denied. The whole thing is played on a mostly bare stage with a giant TV screen above and behind the actors. The TV is used to flesh out the action and to devastating effect during the interview's climax. Jon Driscoll is listed as video designer. Costume and set designer Christopher Oram had great fun with the 1970s look. "Frost/Nixon" is a sharp reminder that those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it. This is something worth remembering. Lucia Anderson is a freelance writer
Date published: 11/20/2008
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