The Blue Room is playing host to “Nixon’s Nixon” a powerful political performance that speculates what might have happened August 7, 1974 in the Lincoln sitting room of the White House. That night President Nixon summoned Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to the presidential home; the next day he announced to the world his intention to resign.
The two-man show staring local Joe Hilsee and play write David Davalos is intriguing, entertaining and well performed.
The show follows the two men through the late summer evening. They chat and bicker like old friends over countless glasses of brandy while recounting in vivid detail some of their memorable presidential moments. They take turns doing impressions of soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev, they act out their interview with Mao Zedong, and they even do imitations of each other.
The audience gets an inside look at some of the presidents dirty little secrets, and although Russell Lees’ scripts is not necessarily sympathetic to the two statesmen, it does humanize them and show a certain uncharacteristic complexity.
Hilsee and Davalos — who first read through the script in Hilsee’s living room sometime last summer — recruited Director Jerry Miller into the project, Hilsee said. Miller was all too happy to work with the accomplished performers.
“We were all pretty much on the same page on this,” Miller said. “I’d show up at rehearsals and it would just be fun all the way.”
That amusing, playful energy seeps into the audience, who gets to laugh along with the tasteless frat house humor of the president and the self-serving seriousness of the secretary.
Davalos, an actor, director and playwright who splits his time between living in Denver and New York, portrays the President with such realism that at first you think Nixon must be rolling over in his grave, and then you swear he got out of the grave to play himself on stage. Davalos not only nails the Nixon manner of speech, he also masterfully manipulates his body, performing the quintessential Nixon mannerisms right down to the President’s stooping posture.
Hilsee also did a wonderful job with his role as the straight man in the slapstick duo. Although he put less focus on trying to impersonate Dr. Kissinger, he did capture something of the uptight Jewish immigrant.
“It comes down to how far do you want to go with an impression,” Hilsee said.
Although the character portrayals were good, what really makes the show impressive is the casual banter between the only two actors on stage. Like a well-choreographed dance, the conversation is so realistic that at times it’s hard to remember that the show is scripted.
It’s an even more impressive accomplishment when you take into consideration the fact that the two have only been rehearsing for a week. Because of Davalos’ obligations back East, he only came into town a few days before the show opened, Hilsee said.
All and all this show is a real winner. Its got it all: laughs, tears, and incriminating tapes. The show is fun for all ages, not just those who can remember the events portrayed in the play first hand.
The helpful and informative program has a list of world leaders, first family members and presidential henchmen to help younger audience members understand what’s going on. It even has a time line of events that starts in 1948 and walks readers through the official resignation on August 9, 1974.
Catch this show before it leaves office forever.
