'Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground'

 

As Richard Hellesen's engaging one-man play, Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground, opens, the 34^th President is grumbling about his placement in a ranking by 75 historians of American Presidents just published in the New York Times magazine. He’s placed at 22nd out of 31 (some Presidents had two terms.)  Eisenhower, beautifully portrayed by Tony-winner John Rubinstein as witty, intelligent and a man of integrity, turns his rant into a reflection on his personal life, his career as a general and his presidency.  I don’t know whether it’s a history lesson clothed as a wonderful evening of theatre or vice versa but it worked for me on both counts.  After a successful run last summer Eisenhower was brought back for a second term this fall.

Rubinstein, under the direction of Peter Ellenstein, is a skillful storyteller as he holds the stage at the Theatre at St. Clement’s for nearly two hours, with an intermission.  It’s 1962 and Eisenhower is enjoying his post-presidency at his farm in Gettysburg.  The idea is that he’s recording his thoughts and experiences for a memoir.  But first he stews over those rankings, the only element of which he seems to agree is that Warren G. Harding is below him.

“President of the United States ought to at least have some dignity.  If you don’t respect the office, you deserve to be at the bottom.  But the rest of us – Rutherford B. Hayes, number 14.  What for?”

Hellesen drew from memoirs, speeches and letters.  It’s fascinating to hear Eisenhower’s thoughts on war, politics and the law, especially in how they contrast with the words and conduct of our most recent Republican President.

Michael Deegan’s set features a cozy room with some comfortable chairs, the former president’s desk off to the side and shelves with books and memorabilia.  A picture window the size of the room looks out on Eisenhower’s golf course, with hills in the distance.  At times the sky darkens and rain falls.  It’s a great setting for the story to unfold.

Eisenhower explains his philosophy, saying he’d like to get rid of the terms liberal and conservative and identify as what some people call middle of the road.  “You,” he says, addressing the Times article on the table, “prob’ly think that means you don’t stand for anything, which is nonsense because you’re going to get hit from both sides so you’d better stand twice as strong.  Besides, the middle of the road is the useable part of the road.  Steer too far to the right or left, you end up in a ditch.”

He’s also got an opinion on government spending.

“Worst of all is the military, and I bet you’re surprised to hear me say that, aren’t you?  Believe me, I understand defense.  I worked most of my life to be General, and that title means more to me than anything.  But our military is defending a way of life, not just territory.  And we can’t undermine that way of life out of debt and waste.  Hell’s fire, the cost of a single fighter jet is half a million bushels of wheat!  We pay for our destroyer with homes that could house 8,000 people! 

“But take on the fools who think war should be the first resort, not the last, and then add the fellas for whom bombs and guns are their paycheck, that military industrial complex will come down on you like a sledgehammer. . . and when every country in the world starts trying to keep up, well, that is just humanity hanging on a cross of iron.  And it’s got to stop.”

Many times I thought he could be talking about our present day, such as in his comments about Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

“Don’t think you’re going to hide our faults by hiding the evidence they ever existed!  Don’t join the book burners!  If you’re going to fight Communism, you need to know what it is, so you can fight it with something better. Always remember that the truth is the bulwark of freedom, and suppression of that is the weapon of dictators.  So don’t be afraid to go into your library and read every book!  And if some writers have ideas that are contrary to yours, well, they still have the right to say ‘em, or it isn’t America!  If we start believing that every individual or party that disagrees with us is somehow wicked, or treasonous, then we are near the end of freedom’s road.”

His reflections are also personal.  The hardest to hear about involved his first born, whose name was Doud but he was called Icky.  Eisenhower was a major and he, his wife, Mamie, and Icky had settled into a house in Fort Meade, MD.

Icky, who was nearly 3, loved the camp atmosphere, the parades and the soldiers.  The soldiers loved him, too, and bought him a little uniform and took him on drills, sitting him up in the tank.  A black and white photo of him in his uniform is precious. 

It was the first sense of settled family life they had known.  Eisenhower was making good money and decided to hire a maid.  Scarlet fever had hit the area and a local girl he interviewed had had it but said she was cured.

“But I didn’t bother to make sure.  And I hired her.  I hired her.  She brought it into our house. And, ah, Icky contracted it from her.  We weren’t even allowed into his hospital room at first.  But there was a porch, and I’d sit out there, look in, wave to him.  Well, they finally let us in.  He was gone in a week.  Died in my arms.”

Eisenhower lived a rich life and I was glad to get to know him in this way.  After all this wonderful dramatic narration Hellesen chose a delightful way to end the play.  The golf course backdrop fades, replaced by a projection displaying the title Presidential Rankings by Historians: Dwight D. Eisenhower.  The title remains while beneath it the following dissolves through:

1962:  #22

1982:  #11

2002:  10

2012:  #8

2022: #5

The audience loved it.  And so did I. 

 

 

 

A Lighthouse for the Arts

I want to share this exciting news. 

With all the chaos around us, a new Performing Arts Center has just opened on Cape Cod, MA - a beacon of hope for a bright future. Inspired by the four elements: earth, wind, fire, and water, the building is designed to foster creativity, inspiration, and exploration for artists both young and old. Built during the 2020 pandemic, this new innovative, green, multipurpose Performing Arts Center now stands complete, fulfilling a vision to provide a place to forge new paths and pursue excellence in the Arts for generations to come.

New community programs have begun for ALL lovers of the Arts including the Outer Cape Winds community wind ensemble for all ages and abilities, and an Arts & Entertainment Lecture Series, which delves into a diverse array of subjects presented by esteemed experts and enthusiasts. Each lecture is a gateway to expand your knowledge, ignite your imagination, and deepen your appreciation for the arts (You can also watch via livestream!).

Arts Empowering Life Ensembles will continue to perform at the new Center, as well as offer the annual Summer Performing Arts Camp for students Grades K-12, with workshops in theatre, percussion, strings, woodwinds, and brass.

Arts Empowering Life (AEL) is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to the pursuit of beauty, truth, and faith, in the Arts — sharing inspiration and education with people across many nationalities, cultures, and traditions. AEL incorporates both performing ensembles and visual artists who have toured to twenty-six countries and throughout the United States performing at the highest levels, leading workshops, and fostering cultural exchanges. AEL has a rich history of reaching out to America’s youth through the arts in the form of workshops, camps, and the Youth Performers Outreach Program. Performing ensembles of Arts Empowering Life include Gloriæ Dei Cantores, the founding ensemble, Elements Theatre Company, Organists of the St. Cecilia Organ at the Church of the Transfiguration, Gabriel V Brass Ensemble, the Wind Ensemble, Gaudete Baroque Ensemble, and Chara Percussion Ensemble.

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

—Anne Frank

'Doris Day: My Secret Love'

 

I learned a great deal of the star’s biography in Doris Day, My Secret Love but Tiffan Borelli’s performance of her was lacking in the spirit and likability that were Day’s trademarks. The show, under the direction of Melissa Attebery, had been running at the Emerging Artists Theatre’s 28th Street space for more than six weeks when I saw it, yet it had the feel of an early preview.  

I felt this right from the start.  Playwright Paul Adams uses the device of a long out of the spotlight Doris appearing in a 1985 retrospective of her life to raise money for the Doris Day Animal Foundation.  She’s being reunited with her long-time accompanist and friend Les Brown (David Beck, who plays all the male characters as well as the piano.)  This is supposed to be a joyful reunion but their wooden embrace is more like a cautious COVID encounter than the warm hug of two people who have shared years performing together and haven’t seen each other for years.

From there the pay unfolds in a series of flashbacks prompted by black and white photos projected on a screen beside her.  Day’s life was a series of traumas, starting at 15 after she had won a contest and it seemed her dream of becoming a dancer was coming true.  As she and her mother prepared to move from Cincinnati to Hollywood Doris and her friends went for a drive following her farewell party.  They never saw the railroad crossing or the train headed their way.  The crash shattered Doris’ leg, leaving her with a double compound fracture and a steel pin, plus eight months of hospitalization.  Shortly after she was released from her “plaster prison,” she was “clowning around” her room pretending to dance and fell, re-fracturing the broken leg, leading to another eight-month recovery.  This is the first story in the play, and the first example of the poor judgment that guided the rest of her life.  She admits to deserving the nickname her brother gave her — Dodo. 

“You could say that train put on a new track,” she says sunnily.   

Borelli shows little emotion relating most of Day’s  tragedies, portraying a Doris whose attitude seems to reflect the philosophy of the song she’s most known for, “Que Sera Sera,” what will be will be.  She comes off as dim-witted, with little dimension.  Interestingly, it’s when Borelli gets to the point in the show where she actually sings this song that I got a glimpse of Doris Day.  And when she encouraged the mostly elderly audience in the sold-out house to sing along, they happily did.  It was one of the few times in the 85-minute show that she had Day’s kind of spirit. 

The new track Doris landed on was first as a singer traveling with a band and then as a Hollywood movie star.  Her first two marriages, at 19 and 23, were over in a heartbeat.  The third was to her controlling and manipulating manager, Marty Melcher, who “always had his hand firmly around my career.”  She signed away her rights as a performer to be exclusively under his employ.  He pushed her about her weight, hair, pitch, age and what movies she would do, sending into panic attacks that caused delays in filming.  The anxiety also kept her from singing “Secret Love” from a film she loved, “Calamity Jane,” at the Academy Awards.  She watched it become the first of her songs to win an Oscar, sung on the show by someone else.  (“Que Sera Sera was her second song to win an Oscar.) 

Her marriage to Marty lasted 17 miserable years and left her angry and nearly broke after he died. 

Her relationship with her son and only child, Terry, from her first marriage, was also problematic.  He was raised by Doris’ mother, Alma, while she was consumed with her career.  When she visits him in the hospital after he was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident he’s hostile, and rightly so.  He’s been hospitalized for several days before she finds the time to visit.

Borrelli’s voice is pleasant even if her acting is weak.  She did have her moments in singing the show’s 14 songs.  I liked her imagining Doris’ enthusiasm for her role in the movie of “Pajama Game.”  In singing “I’m Not At All in Love” she came close to Day’s star quality.  

She’s also convincing in portraying Doris as having two close relationships.  Doris says of her “Julie” costar Louis Jordan, with whom she had an affair while making the film under Marty domineering direction, that Jordan gave her “some tenderness I would never again find in my own husband.”  

Her relationship with Rock Hudson, with whom she made three movies, seems to have been her most loving.  She jokes that she spent more time in bed with him than her husband.  The two shared a deep friendship, really enjoying each other’s company as they worked together.  They used made-up names for each other, Clara and Ernie.  Her grief as she sits at his beside as he is in a coma dying of AIDS is moving. 

But then the play abruptly ends, which took me back to the feeling I had at the beginning, that I was seeing a preview performance.  The show doesn’t just need more from the actor and director.  It also needs some rewriting. 

Leslie Odom Jr. heads 'Purlie Victorious' on Broadway

 

Just before the start of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch, the revival of Ossie Davis’ 1961 play now at the Music Box Theatre, director Kenny Leon addresses the audience in a recorded message.  He says it’s taken 62 years for another commercial production and that “somewhere between rage and hope” it transformed from a satirical drama to a comedy.

I wish I had seen the original as a basis of comparison because as a broad comedy this production has way too much silliness for my liking.  Set in 1961 on a Georgia cotton plantation, the play presents an engaging Leslie Odom Jr. as the Rev. Purlie Victorious Judson who grew up on the plantation and has returned to lift his family out of their role as sharecroppers and get his recently deceased relative’s $500 inheritance out of the hands of the cruel white plantation owner, Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee (Jay O. Sanders).  His intention is to buy and restore the church where his grandfather used to preach and open it as an integrated church in the segregated town.

He brings along Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins (Kara Young)  who he has coached to portray the relative.  (In the original she was played by Ruby Dee, Davis’ wife.) 

“Some of the best pretending in the world is done in front of white folks,” Purlie says.

Not that this always goes smoothly.  I laughed at the scene when Lutiebelle messes up every description of the deceased about whom she’s making the claim.  The more subtle humor is that white men in the South couldn’t distinguish one Black woman from another.

Odom, who won a Tony for his portrayal of Aaron Burr in Hamilton, has said that this is the first time he is speaking the words of an African American writer on Broadway.  Davis, who originated the role of Purlie, would undoubted be pleased.  Others in standout roles are Billy Eugene Jones as his brother, Gitlow; Heather Alicia Simms as Gitlow’s wife, Missy; Vanessa Bell Calloway as Cotchipee’s cook, Idella Landy; and Noah Robbins as Cotchipee’s son, Charlie, who was played by Alan Alda in the original.  

Derek McLane has created simple, easily movable sets.  Designer Emilio Sosa shines, especially with the women’s costumes.  I loved Lutiebelle’s colorful dresses on Young’s model-thin body and the churchgoing ladies’ costumes at the end.

I wonder how Davis would react now to seeing the play he wrote to spotlight racism.  The early 60s were the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement and much progress was made as the decade progressed, including overturning laws supporting the kind of segregation Purlie wanted to overcome.  Davis couldn’t have envisioned how strongly racism would surface and be fueled by the Internet.  We don’t usually wish a play would seem dated or just a part of history.  That’s not a problem here.  With the undisguised hatred thriving in our day it’s unlikely this play will be dated any time soon.