Photo Source: David Sheward
"This is familiar territory for me," explained Angela Lansbury who will be playing a powerful delegate. "But I think this is the definitive depiction of life at a political convention." The five-time Tony winner has attended many fictional conventions in films, the most famous of which took place in "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962). Her character, a ruthless Senate wife plotting to overthrow the government, was assassinated at the end of the movie. Lansbury received an Oscar nomination for her work in the film.
James Earl Jones will be playing president Art Hockstader and addressed the challenge of being an African-American actor playing a former president in a play set in the early 1960s. "I must address it as quietly as I can," he said. "I must think about how to rationalize that. It's a challenge that I must address and the audience must address in the most positive way possible. We're telling the audience to use their imagination." Jones also played the president in the 1972 TV film "The Man."
Other cast members in attendance included John Larroquette, Candice Bergen, Eric McCormack, Kerry Butler, Jefferson Mays, and Michael McKean, as well as director Michael Wilson, who revealed that Vidal had made a few changes to his script for this production.
"The Best Man" begins previews March 6 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre and opens on April 1. The play was last revived on Broadway in 2000, also an election year, with a cast that included Spalding Grey, Chris Noth, Michael Learned, Charles Durning, Elizabeth Ashley, and Christine Ebersole.
Watch video from the event below.
