L.A. Review: 'Robert E. Lee: Shades of Gray'

"History books may say hard things of me, but books are printed in black and white, while life is lived in shades of gray." That summation fairly encompasses "Robert E. Lee: Shades of Gray," acclaimed author-performer Tom Dugan's one-man look at the Confederate general in the twilight of his career.

Dugan, who recently gained considerable and wholly warranted praise and awards for "Nazi Hunter: Simon Wiesenthal," is an actor of immense discipline, vitality, and presence. These serve him well as Lee, whom we meet in full uniform on April 9, 1865, when he arrives at Wilmer McLean's home in Appomatox Court House, prepared to surrender to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and addressing us as "Posterity."

For the next two hours, Lee, whose Virginia gentility and slow-burn temper register with precision through Dugan's well-judged accent and bearing, recounts the chain of events that brought him, the South, and the nation to this juncture. From Virginia's 1861 secession from the Union and Lee's resignation from the U.S. Army through the Emancipation Proclamation and several key battles, Dugan uses letters and journal entries to draw a sympathetic, evenhanded portrait of the man and his milieu.

The military accounts and by-default characterizations of Lee's colleagues intersect with significant anecdotes about Mary, his beloved wife, and their children. Act 1 concludes on the eve of the Battle of Chancellorsville, with Lee in fervent prayer. Act 2 picks up at Gettysburg, after which events follow their recorded course to the synoptic finale.

Director Mel Johnson Jr. keeps the combination of history lesson and technical showcase under tight control, shrewdly revamping designer Jeff G. Rack's "Long Weekend" set as a multipurpose arena of Lee's mind. He has resourceful allies in sound designer Richard Allen's combustible battle sounds and ticking-clock motifs, and in lighting designer Kate Barrett's bursts of color and somber pools, which admirably delineate the tonal shifts.

Perhaps too much so, for if there's a flaw, it's that the schematics of script and staging are overly calculated, each segment closing with a palpable beat, like a History Channel commercial break. While the poised formality is appropriate to the dutiful gentleman that Lee was, in conjunction with the determinedly middle-of-the-road perspective it lets air out of the show's momentum.

Nor does "Shades of Gray" have the same edge of intensity and immediate connection between performer and audience that "Nazi Hunter" did. Apples and oranges, obviously, yet the distance between our time and Lee's era, not to mention a well-known outcome, puts a figurative veil on our involvement. Even so, Dugan remains an imposing talent, and more than just Civil War buffs should appreciate "Gray," which seems a natural for the academic-regional circuit.

Theatre 40 at the Reuben Cordova Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills. June 11–July 3. Mon.–Wed., 7:30 p.m. (310) 364-3606 or www.Theatre40.org.