Imagine...a U.S. Presidential primary with mud-slinging so strong between potential candidates; secret, backdoor negotiations are afoot; and the American public is in the dark about who is actually good and who is adept at portraying goodness. That's the general idea of Gore Vidal's The Best Man, which has, for better or worse, remained frighteningly relevant since it premiered on Broadway in 1960.
Then on April 1, 2012, the work's second Broadway revival opened at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. It was remarkably starry affair. Sure, right now we have Denzel Washington, Bob Odenkirk, Sadie Sink, Sarah Snook, Darren Criss, and George Clooney in different shows. When The Best Man revival was on the board, we had James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, John Larroquette, Candice Bergen, Eric McCormack, Kerry Butler, Jefferson Mays, Michael McKean, and Dakin Matthews鈥�all in the same show.
Larroquette, then fresh off a 2011 Tony win for his work in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, led the cast as Secretary William Russell, an intelligent man actually concerned with governing and with little interest in pandering to the public for votes鈥攂ut he also has a secret extramarital affair in his past. McCormack played his primary opponent, Senator Joseph Cantwell, a young man with a humble background who will do anything to get ahead, including exposing Russell's unsavory secret. In the deft hands of director Michael Wilson, the show illuminated one of the central problems with U.S. politics, the fact that being a good person and being an election-winning politician seem to go together about as well as oil and water.
Vidal reportedly originally wrote the piece as a direct commentary on the 1960 election, with Russell a stand-in for Adlai Stevenson and Cantwell drawn as a John F. Kennedy type鈥攖hough the latter's background could never be described as humble. It's not by accident that the work's three Broadway productions鈥攊n 1960, 2000, and 2012鈥攚ere all staged in election years.
Like many starry revivals before it, the 2012 Best Man was intended to be a fairly short limited run, from March to July. The play became such a success that it was extended through September, getting an equally starry replacement cast in John Stamos, Cybill Shepherd, Kristin Davis, and Elizabeth Ashley鈥攖hey took over for McCormack, Bergen, Butler, and Lansbury (respectively) for the extension.
The show earned two 2012 Tony nominations, for Best Revival of a Play and Best Actor in a Play, the latter for Jones.
To learn about other theatrical events that also occurred on April 1, visit the 半岛体育 Vault.
See photos from the 2012 revival of The Best Man in the gallery below:
Sherman Howard, Candice Bergen, John Larroquette, Donna Hanover, James Lecesne, Fred Parker, and Amy Tribbey in The Best Man
James Earl Jones in The Best Man
John Larroquette, Angela Lansbury, and Candice Bergen in The Best Man
Eric McCormack, Kerry Butler, Corey Brill, and James Earl Jones in The Best Man
Candice Bergen and John Larroquette in The Best Man
James Earl Jones and John Larroquette in The Best Man
Angela Lansbury and Candice Bergen in The Best Man
Eric McCormack, Corey Brill, Candice Bergen, John Larroquette, and Michael McKean in The Best Man
Jefferson Mays and Eric McCormack in The Best Man
Eric McCormack and James Earl Jones in The Best Man
Eric McCormack and John Larroquette in The Best Man
Kerry Butler, Eric McCormack, and Angela Lansbury in The Best Man
Angela Lansbury in The Best Man
John Larroquette, James Earl Jones, Jefferson Mays, and Michael McKean in The Best Man
Eric McCormack and Kerry Butler in The Best Man
