Watching someone you recognize from television or movies is a special treat, which made The Best Man seem very inviting. James Earl Jones, Candice Bergen, John Laroquette, Michael McKean, Eric McCormack, and Angela Lansbury are all in the same play! And the play doesn't cost a ton of money either, so the "average person" can go see it! Well, multiple famous people is not a guarantee of anything. Although the show was enjoyable, it was actually the worst of the three.
The story is very simple: two flawed candidates played by John Laroquette and Eric McCormack are both attempting to lead their party to the presidency. They are fairly different characters, one who is very intelligent and comes from a background of wealth and one who is self-made, but is embraced by people because he represents the common man. Each has a fundamentally different strategy to reaching the presidency. James Earl Jones is the former president with the power to back either candidate, thus helping them secure the nomination. Laroquette's wife and victim of his infidelity is played by Candice Bergen. Angela Lansbury plays a political figure who advises on how to win over female voters.
The story is fun, and the script is easy to understand. Even if you are not big into politics, the plot will not go over your head. Some things definitely feel dated; the play takes place in the 1960's, and it feels that way, which may or may not be a bad thing considering what your taste is. Modern day mudslinging is far more aggressive than it was back then; the skeleton that each candidate has in his closet is very tame by today's standards. Further, because we live in a time with advanced communication and the internet all over the place, I think it would be difficult for John Laroquette's secret not to have surfaced by itself.
All of the characters in the play are quite imperfect, and you never really have to look very hard to see why. With the exception of Candice Bergen, none of the characters are totally likeable. John Laroquette's character seems to be the protagonist, but even though you want to root for his character, you may not want him to actually win the presidency. Unfortunately, both Eric McCormack and his wife are both just one-dimensional characters, which was surely done intentionally to keep the audience morally invested in the story.
The play was very well acted, and it was a great deal of fun watching household names take the stage. Unfortunately, James Earl Jones' performance was a little disappointing. He repeatedly flubbed his lines, and there were moments where he didn't give the audience's laughter a chance to subside before his next line. There was also an issue where he sometimes spoke a little too loudly, but this might have been a glitch with his microphone and not his fault. Even with the flaws in his performance, he was still fun to watch.
One odd feature of the show was that there were two intermissions. The show really wasn't long enough to warrant this, so it was fairly bothersome. I'm rarely someone who plays close attention to the run time of a production, but the show didn't feel any longer than average. Honestly, I can't think of any reason that the show would need to have this other intermission, and I don't know if it is normal for the show or if there was some kind of difficulty that prompted it. There were no major revisions to the set, massive costume changes, or elaborate make up jobs; it looked like the show could have just continued from where it was.
The set was excellent and well-detailed as if you were watching a movie or a television show. The different sets would fold and move into place in seconds, with little touches like coffee tables that would magically move into place without being touched. In the theater, there were black and white television sets that were hanging from the ceiling which aided in the illusion that you were 50 years in the past. The costumes were okay for the most part; unfortunately, with a show like this one, nearly every character is outfitted in a very dressy way, so everyone had a suit or a fancy dress on. I don't know much about 1960's fashion, but both the male and female characters could have been in a play that took place in modern times.
The Schoenfeld Theater was very nice. It was not a huge theater, so every seat in the place was a good one. The audience mostly consisted of the elderly; I expected more of a mix of people because of all the famous people in the play, especially Eric Mc Cormack (I don't expect that the majority of Will and Grace fans are elderly). My seat was in the back, right in front of the bartender's table. For some reason, the bartender's table would make noise during the production; my guess is that it was melting ice.
I give the show a 7.5 out of 10. It is definitely worth seeing, but if you think that you are going to be wowed just because the play is full of well-known actors, you will be disappointed.
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