TR subject of a new NY play
A wildlife conservationist? A union supporter? It’s sometimes hard to believe that Theodore Roosevelt was a Republican. But he was never one to reflexively conform to party ideology, as Michael O. Smith demonstrates in his informative one-man show, “The Bully Pulpit,” which he also wrote.
Set almost a decade after Roosevelt left office, in 1918, at Sagamore Hill, his estate in Oyster Bay, N.Y., the play gives us a Roosevelt who, entertaining visitors in his study, reminisces about his upbringing, his adventures in the American West and with the Rough Riders in Cuba, and his political achievements.
Mr. Smith bears an astonishing resemblance to his subject and has an unforced ease. (He has toured widely with the production since its debut in Florida in 2004.) He certainly conveys Roosevelt’s gregariousness and prodigious energy, his speech punctuated with “Bully!” and “By Godfrey!,” followed by a brisk hand clap. (That energy also infuses the play’s pacing; its two-hour running time sails by.) Helping inestimably to evoke the era are Charles Corcoran’s effective period set and Jill Nagle’s sound design, which subtly adds echo to Roosevelt’s voice as he orates from a small balcony.
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Set almost a decade after Roosevelt left office, in 1918, at Sagamore Hill, his estate in Oyster Bay, N.Y., the play gives us a Roosevelt who, entertaining visitors in his study, reminisces about his upbringing, his adventures in the American West and with the Rough Riders in Cuba, and his political achievements.
Mr. Smith bears an astonishing resemblance to his subject and has an unforced ease. (He has toured widely with the production since its debut in Florida in 2004.) He certainly conveys Roosevelt’s gregariousness and prodigious energy, his speech punctuated with “Bully!” and “By Godfrey!,” followed by a brisk hand clap. (That energy also infuses the play’s pacing; its two-hour running time sails by.) Helping inestimably to evoke the era are Charles Corcoran’s effective period set and Jill Nagle’s sound design, which subtly adds echo to Roosevelt’s voice as he orates from a small balcony.