Stacy Keach plays Richard Nixon in "Frost/Nixon."
Sure, it’s an entire play focusing on the historic interviews between flashy British journalist David Frost and former President Richard Nixon, who resigned from office in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal.
But you do not have to be of the political persuasion to enjoy Peter Morgan’s “Frost/Nixon.”
You just have to like some good theater.
The play, which is running at the same time as the Academy Award-nominated film it spawned, is worth a watch, even if you’ve already coughed up the $10 at the movies.
Stacy Keach, known for his work as television detective Mike Hammer, shines as the only president to resign in history.
Yes, he looks nothing like Nixon, but he plays to the ex-president’s tics and moods very well. And you have to laugh when he throws up his fingers in the infamous “V” for victory pose, or explains how his perspiration problem lost him an election to John F. Kennedy.
British actor Alan Cox plays Frost as someone who is outwardly confident, but just as worried as Nixon when left alone.
Despite the fact that most everyone knows the ending, Director Michael Grandage keeps the pace suspenseful, with spurts of comedy.
With just a wood paneled backdrop, a bank of television monitors and sparse furniture, all focus is on the small crew of actors that lead you through the action. The TV monitors were great for close-ups and, along with the harsh overhead lighting, made the audience feel like they were watching on television back in 1977.
The sequence of events is narrated by people close to Frost and Nixon: Frost’s research team, Nixon’s chief of staff Jack Brennan, and his agent Swifty Lazar, who brokered the $600,000 deal.
The story goes like this: Frost, trying to bolster his journalistic integrity after a failed New York TV show, seeks out Nixon and finally gets him to agree to four televised interviews, paying him a whopping $600,000, most of it his own money.
As one of the characters references, the interviews end up somewhat like a boxing match, with each man trying to get the better of the other. Nixon manages to keep the upper hand throughout the play, dancing around questions. But Frost is the ultimate victor, soliciting an apology from Nixon to the American public.
Probably one of the best lines was Nixon’s “Well, when the president does it, that means it is not illegal.”
The play is ripe with historical inconsistencies, but gets at the heart of what was going through both men’s minds leading up to the climax, which may have historians miffed, but means you’ll probably enjoy it.
Frost/Nixon runs through Feb. 8 at the Colonial Theatre, in Boston. Tickets can be purchased through www.ticketmaster.com
I would give this play three stars, out of four.
