Frost/Nixon

Frost/Nixon is well worth seeing. But you want to get tickets close to the stage. This touring production is a departure for the Broadway Sacramento series. It’s not a musical, a love story nor a toe tapper; it’s a tense, realistic political drama set in the ’70s. Mostly, the show features (male) hard-boiled strategists pacing and arguing as they engineer a high-stakes TV interview—Nixon’s getting a fat fee—with a British talk-show host who isn’t a “serious” journalist, but rises to the occasion. We know the outcome going in—but hey, everybody knows how The Lion King will end, too.

Veteran actor Stacey Keach does a fine job as the dark, reflective Richard Nixon, aching for redemption—a powerhouse performance. And Alan Cox, as the glib David Frost, does a good job, too. But to fully appreciate their work, you need to be close enough “to see the whites of their eyes,” as they said in Revolutionary War days. Much of the “action” during the climactic interview consists of the actors sitting in chairs, firing questions and replies, facing each other down. If you’re in the back of the 2,400-seat Sacramento Community Center Theater, or the distant balconies, you’re likely to be disappointed. Fortunately, good seats are available—none of the local performances have sold out.