Theatre Reviews & Features {module ad_left_body}Blum will begin performances this Tuesday, June 5, 2012 at 7:00pm. The critically-acclaimed production of Gore Vidal’s THE BEST MAN, which was originally scheduled to play through July 8, 2012, has been extended twice, now playing through Sunday, September 9, 2012 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street). Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased at Telecharge.com or by calling (212) 239-6200.
McKean was injured when he was struck by a car at the intersection of West 86th Street and Broadway on the Upper West Side on Tuesday, May 22, 2012. JAMES LECESNE, who plays Mitch Graham, a reporter from the Washington Post and is making his Broadway debut in Gore Vidal’s THE BEST MAN, had stepped in to McKean’s role in the interim.
MARK BLUM. Broadway: Twelve Angry Men, The Graduate, A Thousand Clowns, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, Lost in Yonkers, My Thing of Love, The Merchant.
Off Broadway: Lonely I’m Not, Picked, We Live Here, After the Revolution, The Overwhelming, The Waverly Gallery, The Long Christmas Ride Home, The Music Teacher, The Seagull, Mizlansky/Zilinsky, Gus and Al (Obie), It’s Only A Play, Little Footsteps, Key Exchange, Table Settings, Say Goodnight Gracie. Regional: Long Wharf, Huntington, Old Globe. Film: I Don’t Know How She Does It, The Green, Passing Harold Blumenthal, Step Up 3-D, Desperately Seeking Susan, Crocodile Dundee, Shattered Glass, The Presidio, Blind Date, Worth Winning, Getting to Know You, You Can Thank Me Later, Miami Rhapsody, Indictment: The McMartin Trial, The Defenders, Just Between Friends, Lovesick. TV: “Damages”, “The Good Wife,” “Fringe,” “Jesse Stone,” “The Sopranos,” “The West Wing,” “NYPD Blue,” ”CSI: Miami,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Frasier,” “Ed,” “The Practice,” “Wings,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Capitol News,” and Steve Martini’s “The Judge.” He is on the faculty of Brooklyn College and HB Studio.
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Gore Vidal's THE BEST MAN has been nominated for a 2012 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play as well as a Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play nomination for James Earl Jones.
Here’s what the critics had to say:
“A CRACKLING REVIVAL!”
—The New York Times
“A KNOCKDOWN HIT WITH A TRILLIONWATT CAST!”
—The Wall Street Journal
“A STAR BEDAZZLED REVIVAL THAT GLISTENS WITH WIT!”
—New York Magazine
“RIVETING! A stellar cast…injects vitality, humor, and tension to the American circus of electing a president.”
—The Huffington Post
“THE BEST MAN WINS!”
—USA Today
“AN UNQUALIFIED WINNER! Truly one of the year’s best! Gore Vidal’s The Best Man is remarkably vibrant, gripping and witty. Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones are giving legendary performances.”
—NY1 News
“DELICIOUS! It’s like a greatest hits album on stage, and director
MICHAEL WILSON excitingly paces the play like a thriller.”
—Associated Press
“THE BEST FUN YOU’LL HAVE IN A THEATER THIS SEASON!”
—WOR Radio
“FUNNY, SUSPENSEFUL and BRIMMING WITH SCANDAL, THE BEST MAN
is a RED, WHITE AND BLUE MUST SEE HIT!”
—Fox 5 News
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A play about power, ambition, political secrets, ruthlessness and the race for the presidency, Gore Vidal’s THE BEST MAN is set at the national convention where two candidates are vying for their party’s nomination during the primary season. It’s an inside look at the dirt-digging, double-dealing, triple-crossing chicanery of presidential electioneering and what could be more fun in a presidential campaign season than these theatrical fireworks.
The production is directed by Drama Desk Award winner MICHAEL WILSON (The Orphans Home Cycle Part I, II and III, Dividing The Estate). The design team includes Tony and Drama Desk Award winning scenic designer DEREK McLANE (33 Variations, Anything Goes), Tony and Drama Desk Award winning lighting designer KENNETH POSNER (The Coast of Utopia, Part 2 – Shipwreck), five-time Tony Award nominated costume designer ANN ROTH (The Book of Mormon), Drama Desk Award winning sound designer JOHN GROMADA (Seminar, The Orphans' Home Cycle) and projection designer PETER NIGRINI (Fela!, 9 to 5: The Musical).
Gore Vidal’s THE BEST MAN is produced by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, INFINITY Stages, Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Barbara Manocherian/Michael Palitz, The Broadway Consortium/Ken Mahoney, Kathleen K. Johnson, Fifty Church Street Productions, Larry Hirschhorn/Bennu Productions, Patty Baker, Paul Boskind and Martian Entertainment, Wendy Federman, Mark S. Golub & David S. Golub, Cricket Hooper Jiranek, Stewart F. Lane & Bonnie Comley, Carl Moellenberg, Harold Thau, Will Trice.
Please visit www.thebestmanonbroadway.com for information.
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