Gore Vidal's The Best Man premiered in New York in 1960. Four years later it was adapted into a film. And a little over half a century later, the Boulevard Theatre is staging a reading of the play as a fundraiser. It was a Broadway drama about the presidential primaries in the summer of 1960.
The one anecdote I'd heard about this play is probably the one thing most people know about it. Evidently Ronald Reagan had auditioned for the play's original run in 1960. Evidently Gore Vidal didn't give him the role in question because he didn't think Reagan could play a credible president. Of course, years after the man finished his second term, he still doesn't come across as a terribly credible president, but that's another story altogether . . .
In any case, all joking aside, Vidal's look at presidential election politics in 1960 serves as a fundraiser for Mark Bucher's Boulevard Theatre. There are two performances: this Saturday, October 20th at 8pm and the following Sunday the 21st on matinee at 2:30 pm.
In the staged reading, David Ferrie plays the incumbent in a cast that also features a number of other impressive talents including Michelle Waide, Mark Flagg, Joan End and Lee Barczak, among others.
Seating is, of course, limited at one of Milwaukee's most intimate stages on 2252 South Kinnickinnic. To reserve tickets, call 414-744-5757.
