On what I believe was my last trip to New York City on June 27, 2012, I saw a matinee performance of Gore Vidal’s play The Best Man.

It had a star-studded cast with both Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones, as well as Candace Bergen and John Larroquette and Eric McCormack.

Gore Vidal had written the play back in 1960 and the characters vaguely reflected political figures of the time like Adlai Stevenson, Richard Nixon, and Harry Truman. James Earl Jones in an inspired piece of non-traditional casting played Artie Hockstader, the character loosely based on Truman. 

It was the only time I ever got to see James Earl Jones live on stage. As Mr. Jones has just died, I thought it only fitting to interrupt my carefully planned series of blog posts with this little remembrance of him.

Jones was everything one would have expected him to be. His deep resonant voice was instantly recognizable, and he absolutely commanded one’s attention with his stage presence. His part was relatively small but absolutely crucial, and he made a huge impression on the audience, an impression that lingered even when he was no longer on the stage.

One additional note about that production that I always love to mention. Gore Vidal always complained that he had never received a favorable review in the New York Times and this definitely included this play both in its original incarnation and this revival. I don’t know whose idea it was, and it presumably was missed by 99% of the audience, but sitting in the very center of the very front row, I certainly noticed it. At one point one of the characters was reading the New York Times and from my seat I could see very clearly that the faux edition that the prop people had produced had some glaring mis-spellings in its headlines. I’m sure they were intentional. 😆

Here are some scenes from that production.