Lyric to Stage "Frost/Nixon" at Plaza Theatre
Politics and the press will collide next month as Lyric Theatre presents the Oklahoma City premiere of Frost/Nixon.
The play by Peter Morgan is based on a series of televised interviews that former U.S. President Richard Nixon granted British broadcaster David Frost in 1977 about his administration, including his role in the Watergate scandal.
Frost/Nixon opens Wednesday, September 4, running through Sunday, September 22, at Lyric at the Plaza, 1725 NW 16 St. It stars Oklahoma theatre favorites Matthew Alvin Brown as Frost and D. Lance Marsh as Nixon.
Morgan’s script gives theatre-goers a behind-the-scenes look at one of the nation’s most memorable moments between a U.S. president and the media. British talk-show host Frost has become a lowbrow laughingstock and Nixon has just resigned as president disgraced over Vietnam and the Watergate scandal.
Determined to resurrect his career, Frost risks everything on a series of in-depth interviews to extract an apology for the American people from Nixon. However, Nixon is equally bent on redeeming himself in his nation’s eyes. In the television age, image is king, and both men are desperate to out-talk and upstage each other as the cameras roll.
The result is the interview that sealed a president’s legacy.
The play originally premiered in London in August 2006 and opened on Broadway the following year, earning three Tony Award nominations, including one win for Frank Langella as Nixon for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play.
Langella subsequently received the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for the same role. Ron Howard, a Hollywood director originally from Oklahoma, directed the 2008 film adaptation of the play of the same title, which reunited its original stage stars, Langella as Nixon and Michael Sheen as Frost.
In addition to the casting of Brown and Marsh, Lyric’s production of Frost/Nixon includes Rodney Brazil (Manolo Sanchez), Ronn Burton (Swifty Lazar and Mike Wallace), David H. Dobson (John Birt), Jonathan Beck Reed (Bob Zelnick), Emily J. Pace (Caroline Cushing), Gregory DeCandia (Jim Reston), Andi Dema (Jack Brennan) and Kaylila Pasha (Evonne Goolagong).
Frost/Nixon features lighting design by Stephen King, set design by Dawn Drake and costumes by Lyric’s Resident Costume Designer Jeffrey Meek. Sound and projection designer Sam Kusnetz and the production will be stage-managed by Laurena Sherrill.
Single tickets to Frost/Nixon start at just $25. This show contains strong language and mature themes. For more information, visit www.LyricTheatreOKC.org or call Lyric’s box office at (405) 524-9312.
Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma was founded in 1963 and is the state’s leading professional theatre company. Lyric produces classic and contemporary musicals, new works, and plays featuring artists from Oklahoma and around the nation. Shows are presented at two Oklahoma City venues — the intimate Plaza Theatre and in the summer at the grand Civic Center Music Hall.
Lyric's Thelma Gaylord Academy is the premier professional theatre training ground, offering classes in all aspects of the performing arts. Lyric is a nonprofit member theatre of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre and Allied Arts. For more information, visit www.LyricTheatreOKC.org.
The Gayly. 8/28/2019 @ 7:46 a.m. CST.