The Best Man | Remy Bumppo Theatre Company
PRICE $35-$40
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It’s been nearly 50 years since The Best Man debuted, and in some ways Gore Vidal’s biting drama about two presidential aspirants is showing its age. Set during a political convention in Philadelphia, it’s peppered with references to hot-button issues of the time: whether a Catholic could win, whether the United States should recognize “Red China,” the political dangers of supporting birth control, and the importance of politicians’ wives (and their hairdos) to the “women’s vote.” And the allusions to William Jennings Bryan, Henry Luce, Joseph Alsop, Bertrand Russell, and other heavyweights may fly over the heads of some.
Despite its rather stilted construction, the play is well made, building to a plot twist that still provokes gasps. Vidal’s pointed, sometimes bitchy dialogue enhances its conflict, rooted in the characters’ complexities and contradictions. And references not only to homosexuality but to White House womanizers and marriages of convenience are reminders that scandal is part of the territory. (A question about sexual indiscretion–“You haven’t gone and written any letters like some fellows do?”–garnered a hearty laugh last weekend in the wake of the damning Mark Foley news.)
