R
Martinez has a peculiar, three-pronged way of telling this story. One prong
focuses, naturally enough, on the principal players, Reagan and Gorbachev,
as well as their wives, Nancy and Raisa, whom we see practicing their own
sharp-elbowed, sotto voce form of diplomacy on their husbands and each
other. Another concentrates, also naturally, on Shultz and Shevardnadze,
the resourceful underlings who find themselves forming a team of rivals as
they attempt to make history. The final prong doesn’t feel so natural. It
gives us presidential biographer Edmund Morris as an occasional narrator,
supplying a quizzical counterpoint to people and events as he floats
through the play. I guess Morris can be said to represent the audience in
that regard, but despite Thomas J. Cox’s engaging performance, he comes
across as little more than a narrative flourish. Which is appropriate in a
way, Morris being the guy who wrote Dutch, the notoriously
metabiographical “memoir” of Reagan featuring a character named “Edmund
Morris.”
Through 2/25: Wed 7:30 PM, Thu 2 and 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 PM; also Sun 2/25, 7:30 PM, Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, 312-443-3800, goodmantheatre.org, $20-$75.
