The Wall Street Journal - 07.10.2019

A12B| Monday, October 7, 2019 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

dent looked or carried himself.

In effect, the lack of a visual

record translates into a blank

canvas.

Nevertheless, when Christo-

pher Jackson was preparing to

play George Washington in the

musical “Hamilton” on Broad-

way—and its previous off-

Broadway iteration—he wanted

to be as informed as possible

about the first president. That

meant reading Ron Chernow’s

“Washington: A Life” at least a

half-dozen times.

“It was my bible,” said Mr.

Jackson, whose performance

in “Hamilton” earned him a

Tony nomination for best fea-

tured actor in a musical.

At the same time, Mr. Jack-

son emphasizes that the entire

conceit of “Hamilton” is about

taking a none-too-literal ap-

proach to our country’s his-

tory. And “Hamilton” isn’t the

only theatrical work of recent

memory to do so.

Last season, Lucas Hnath’s

“Hillary and Clinton” offered a

look at Hillary Clinton and for-

mer President Bill Clinton as a

couple grappling with a host

of issues, albeit in the context

of Mrs. Clinton’s 2008 presi-

dential run. The production

starred Laurie Metcalf as Mrs.

Clinton and John Lithgow as

Mr. Clinton.

Mr. Lithgow is quick to note

that the playwright all but

commands the actors in the ti-

tle roles not to mimic the his-

torical figures they are por-

traying. And he said he found

that “liberating.”

“We treated it as a mar-

riage play,” he added.

But how to treat a presi-

dent who has been imperson-

ated as much as, say, Nixon? It

is a challenge that has come

up in many a play, film, televi-

sion show and even opera that

has focused on the controver-

sial former leader.

And it comes up again in

“The Great Society.” Although

the play concentrates on John-

son, it has a small part for

Nixon as the two leaders meet

during the transition of power

from one to the other.

David Garrison, a Tony-

nominated actor, tackles the

part of Nixon. He said he has

been mindful about not lapsing

into impersonation, though he

tries to capture the president’s

physical awkwardness in sub-

tle ways. Key to helping him

with that is making sure his

shoes are too tight, he said.

Mr. Garrison also notes the

best preparation he had for

playing Nixon was playing

Groucho Marx, which he did in

the 1980 Broadway musical “A

Day in Hollywood/A Night in

the Ukraine.”

It isn’t that Mr. Garrison is

comparing the president with

the comic actor. Rather, he

learned the process of portray-

ing a historical figure by “work-

ing from the inside out” and

not relying on familiar manner-

isms or gestures, he said. “Oth-

erwise, you just have the icing

without the cake,” he said.

Brian Cox plays LBJ in ‘The Great Society.’ Christopher Jackson, center below, read up on George Washington for his role in ‘Hamilton.’

FROM TOP: EVAN ZIMMERMAN FOR MURPHYMADE; NICHOLAS HUNT/GETTY IMAGES

GREATERNEWYORKWATCH

NEW JERSEY

Coyote Attacks

Reported in Park

A woman and a dog were in-

jured in separate coyote attacks

in a New Jersey park, authorities

say.

The unidentified woman was

attacked Saturday in Ramapo

Valley County Reservation in

Mahwah Township, the Bergen

County sheriff’s department

said. Hours later, a dog was at-

tacked in the same area.

It wasn’t known if the at-

tacks were done by the same

coyote. Police closed the park

and locked the gates to the

parking lot.

In August, a 53-year-old

woman out for a walk in the

township encountered a coyote

chasing a deer, and the coyote

stopped and bit her twice.

Township police have advised

people encountering coyotes not

to turn their backs to the animal

or run. Instead, they say, you

should make noise and throw

small sticks to scare it away.

—Associated Press

CONNECTICUT

Parents Seek Ruling

On Vaccine Data

A Connecticut couple seeking

to stop the public release of ad-

ditional information about

schools’ immunization rates is

asking the Department of Public

Health to expedite its decision.

Brian and Kristen Festa, of

Bristol, said they asked the de-

partment for a declaratory ruling

on their petition because offi-

cials plan to release additional

data this month.

A Superior Court judge dis-

missed their lawsuit in Septem-

ber. The couple had sought to

stop the release of additional

immunization information and

have school-by-school immuniza-

tion data from 2017-18 removed

online. The judge said they

hadn’t exhausted their “adminis-

trative remedies” with public-

health officials.

The parents of an unvacci-

nated son, the Festas say they

have suffered mental and emo-

tional distress due to hateful

statements from the public since

the release of immunization-rate

data in May.

—Associated Press

means avoiding overemphasiz-

ing any of the physical traits or

characteristics associated with

a particular president.

“You have the trap of im-

personation,” warned Bill

Rauch, who directed both “The

Great Society” and “All the

Way” on Broadway.

Actors say they try to home

in on a particular detail—and

often, a less obvious one—

about the president to shape

their performance. For Mr.

Cox, the key to unlocking the

character of LBJ in “The Great

Society” is embracing the

speed in which Johnson went

about his business.

“I very much try to capture

his pacing. He moved at a

whippersnapper pace,” Mr.

Cox said.

Mr. Cranston found in John-

son a man who used his 6-

foot-4 height to intimidate his

political adversaries. And that

created a problem for Mr.

Cranston as he prepared for

“All the Way” because the ac-

tor himself isn’t as tall.

The solution? Mr. Cranston

put lifts in his shoes and re-

quested that shorter actors be

cast in the play’s other parts.

The end result, he said, was

getting “the sensation of dom-

ineering” so crucial to John-

son’s approach.

Actors can benefit to a cer-

tain extent if they are playing

a president from the pre-tele-

vision era since there is less of

an idea about how that presi-

Ignore all the impeachment
drama in Washington. To wit-
ness presidential politics in
true theatrical form, head
straight to Broadway.
The Great White Way has
been home to many plays and
musicals that explore the life
and times of our commanders in
chief. The newest example: “The
Great Society,” playwright Rob-
ert Schenkkan’s look at Lyndon
B. Johnson’s presidency as the
Texas-born leader pushed for a
social-minded domestic agenda
while also grappling with the
war in Vietnam. The production,
featuring the Scottish actor
Brian Cox (of HBO’s “Succes-
sion”) in the presidential role,
opened earlier this month.
Mr. Cox indeed has plenty of
company, including some ac-
tors who have turned their
presidential opportunities into
Tony Award-winning perfor-
mances. Frank Langella won
the 2007 honor for best leading
actor in a play for his portrayal
of Richard Nixon in Peter Mor-
gan’s “Frost/Nixon,” which
chronicled the 1977 interviews
between the British journalist
and television personality Da-
vid Frost and the disgraced ex-
president. Mr. Langella re-
prised his role in the 2008 film
based on the play.
Bryan Cranston also took
home a Tony in the same cate-
gory in 2014 for his perfor-
mance as Johnson in “All the
Way,” Mr. Schenkkan’s earlier
play about the LBJ presidency.
The challenge for actors
who take on the part of the
president is multifold, but it of-
ten begins with separating the
man from the myth and finding
ways to bring a personal di-
mension to a figure generally
known in only a public context.
In the process, that often

BYCHARLESPASSY

Presidents

Keep Coming

To Broadway

Actorssaytheytry

to home in on a

detail—often, a less

obvious one.

Createdbytherenownedconsultant,

teacherandauthorDr.PeterFuda,

ENIXAisaprovenmethodforleadership

transformationusedbymanyofthe

world’stopCEOsandorganizations.

DownloadtheENIXAapptoaccess

compellingstories,insights,andtactics

thatwillhelpyouachievemore,faster—

andwithlesseffortthanyouimagined.

©2019 Dow Jones & Co. Inc. All rights reserved. 3DJ

EXTRAORDINARY

IS CLOSER

THAN YOU THINK

DOWNLOAD NOW

ENIXA.CO

1

st

ANNUAL

WAtCH FAIR

THURSDAY-SATURDAY

OCTOBER 10-12•12-5 P.M.

AT WESTFIELD

WORLD TRADE CENTER

Oculus, Main level c2•212.381.

BAUME & MERCIER

CARL F. BUCHERER

CHANEL

FREDERIQUE CONSTANT

IWC SCHAFFHAUSEN

JAEGER-LECOULTRE

NOMOS GLASHÜTTE

ORIS

PANERAI

RAYMOND WEIL

ROLEX

TAG HEUER

TUDOR

GREATER NEW YORK

NY

UPSTATE NEW YORK

Limo Crash Victims

Memorial Is Unveiled

A memorial to the 20 people

killed when a stretch limousine

blew through an intersection

and barreled into an earthen

embankment a year ago was un-

veiled at the crash site in up-

state New York.

Family members and first re-

sponders got a private first look

Saturday at the memorial fea-

turing 20 stones in a semicircle.

The public was welcome Sunday.

Each stone features a plaque

bearing the name of a person

killed in the Oct. 6, 2018, crash

near a country store in Schoha-

rie. The 17 passengers, including

four sisters, were on a birthday

outing when the limo crashed.

The driver and two pedestrians

also were killed.

“It’s important that they

never be forgotten,” said Jessica

Kirby, president of Reflections

Memorial Foundation.

A unique shoe print on each

stone symbolizes the lasting im-

pressions of the victims. There

also will be stones honoring the

emergency responders.

The foundation has raised

more than $50,000 and hopes to

raise $250,000 to fund continu-

ous maintenance, Ms. Kirby said.

—Associated Press