Alan Cox as David Frost and Stacy Keach as Richard Nixon in "Frost/Nixon," on stage through Sunday at the Palace Theater. (Photo credit: Carol Rosegg)

'Frost/Nixon' engages audience at Palace Theater
By Art Thomas
Insights
Published Jan. 21, 2009

At the start of “Frost/Nixon” a bank of video screens snap on with a loud electric buzz as power surges through them. The audience gasps and jumps at this first sound effect in the equally electrifying play.

An event many of us lived through, the David Frost interviews of disgraced, resigned president Richard Nixon are given new life in this historical fiction treatment by Peter Morgan. It is on stage at the Palace Theater through Sunday.

Before going further, I want to point out that Playhouse Square wants to fill the 2500 seats of the Palace theater for each performance, so they have made every ticket $25 — a bargain, and a nice gesture in these times.

The key historic events forming the drama were the recommendation by the Senate Judiciary Committee to impeach President Nixon, his resignation shortly after, and the interviews with Frost three years later.

Stacy Keach stars as the 37th president in "Frost/Nixon," on stage at the Palace Theater. (Photo credit: Carol Rosegg)

Dramatic luminary Stacy Keach doesn’t particularly look like Nixon, but he takes on the role with the intensity of a stage veteran. Keach’s Nixon is affable at home in California, rattling off specific dates and anecdotes of visits by world leaders. He is the master of the interviews, controlling the pace with 20 minute answers to simple questions. There’s no flapping jowls, but the audience can see inside his head in the interview sequence about Watergate. Finally, he is the “beaten, but not defeated” betrayer of the office he held.

Alan Cox is David Frost, the TV host who had a reputation of a playboy and less-than-competent political interviewer. Morgan’s script is structured so that a piece of research, never before revealed, proves that Nixon was involved with the cover-up long before he claimed to have knowledge of the events. This may or may not be true, but it makes for a dynamic and engrossing script.

In theater, actors use exaggerated expressions that will “read” to the audience in remote row ZZ. In movies, close-ups give power and magnification to very subtle facial movements. In “Frost/Nixon,” director Michael Grandage uses TV cameras that enlarge Nixon’s face to gigantic size on the bank of video monitors. A brilliant moment freezes Nixon’s face just before he makes the revelation that he did make “major mistakes” and “let down” the American people. It was not the apology that the country hoped for, but it did help give closure to a series of dark events in our politics.

“Frost/Nixon” has a cast of a dozen who play among others, Frost’s girlfriend, Nixon’s Chief of Staff, and super agent “Swifty” Lazar. He got Nixon an unprecedented $600,000 for the interviews.

Lest you think “Frost/Nixon” is dull and static debate, know that the action rolls briskly from place to place with colorful characters. The play has generous portions of belly laughs too. Deserving of the awards it received in London and New York, “Frost/Nixon” is a must-see in our Broadway Series.

On the Web:

• Information on "Frost/Nixon" at Playhouse Square
• "Frost/Nixon" Tour official Web site