Article:9660; Posted: May 11, 2015 at 10:00 a.m.

Nowadays, Frost/Nixon is a historical drama, but it is one whose events continue to reverberate in politics today.

What a Do is presenting this challenging drama as the closing show of their season. Director David Lew Cooper has compiled a cast that has carefully balanced making this show one of period vs. contemporary. The company strives for historical accuracy while still trying to make this an accessible drama with modern relevancy.

Frost/Nixon is the story of the first major interviews Richard Nixon did after resigning from office. British television host David Frost spent hours with the disgraced president reviewing his entire presidency and specifically the Watergate break-in scandal.

But the drama comes from the two men approaching this with opposing goals. Nixon saw these interviews as a way to rehabilitate his shattered image, while Frost wanted it to be the trial Nixon never had.

Dave Stubbs was convincing as Richard Nixon, moving and talking like the former president. He was able to capture both the statesman and the paranoid politician who let his paranoia destroy him. Stubbs reveals how he had the potential to be a great man but self-destructed. It was a believable performance revealing more about Nixon as a flawed human being who nonetheless was able to touch and achieve greatness for a time.

David Frost’s role was played by Joe Dely, who captures both the serious journalist and the playboy talk show host. Dely was the only one who spoke in an accent, even the other British producer, Scott Whitesells’ John Birt, did not use an accent. Dely’s Frost stood out from the others as a man full of energy and optimism but who took great risks. Dely made sure the stakes were high for the interview and showed how much it was a contest between Nixon and Frost with only one possible winner for the outcome.

The supporting cast also worked hard to show the two sides and their opposing goals. Bruce Brown Jr.’s Jack Brennan was bull doggish in his support of the president, while his disdain for liberals could make him a star guest today on a Rush Limbaugh segment. Nixon was a statesman at all times in public, and Brennan was the partisan hack behind him.

Lars J Loofboro’s Bob Zelnick is the American journalist on Frost’s team who recruited historian/journalist James Reston Jr. to join in preparing Frost. (Landon Cally). Loofboro and Cally made a great team of Nixon opponents who raised the stakes within Frost’s team. They were both intense, especially Cally, and provided the explanation of who Nixon was and why it was important he get a trial.

RJ Soule’s Swifty Lazar was over-the-top compared to most of the other performances. He was slick and played the part of the agent with stereotypical comic choices.

The women in the ensemble flitted about the edges, adding some personality and human moments to the drama, creating moments that helped define Frost and the television world of journalism.

The pre-show was a combination of John Purchase’ original music and a series of projections (uncredited in the program) of headlines from Hitler’s death through the Ferguson riots and the Boston marathon bombings. It was challenging to figure out why the headlines were chosen except to set a stage that this was a non-fiction drama and to set this in a continuum—that Watergate was not a moment in time, but an episode that continues to have an effect on today’s politics and journalism.

I took a 16-year-old with me to see the show, and her perspective was different from this journalist who was influenced in her career choice by “All the President’s Men” and the example set by the investigative journalists, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who brought Nixon down. For her, the play was pure history, and she had only the thinnest notions of what Watergate was about.

Frost/Nixon for her became a history lesson. And at intermission, she was seeing Nixon as a decent president who did a lot of good things. It is a testament to how well What a Do accomplishes the play’s mission–that it wasn’t until the final interview that Frost was able to succeed in his goal of revealing Nixon’s darker side.

Frost/Nixon is a drama that works because it is human as well as political. It was a battle that was not just partisan, but between two people who hung all their hopes on this event with only one of them a possible winner.

But there is one more winner in this tautly paced and high stakes drama—the What a Do audiences.

Show time: 8:06 to 10:12, with intermission

SHOW DETAILS:
Frost/Nixon
What A Do Theatre
4071 West Dickman Road, Battle Creek
May 8-23, 2015; Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., also Thursday, May 14 at 8:00 p.m. (pay what you can) and a half-price matinee Saturday, May 16 at 3:00 p.m.
$20.00/discounts available for seniors/students/military
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www.whatado.org