The recent revival of Gore Vidal’s The Best Man features a stellar cast performing a 52-year-old political drama that is as relevant and important today as when it first emerged. The compassionate Secretary William Russell (John Larroquette) and his less experienced, cutthroat competitor Senator Joseph Cantwell (Eric McCormack) play political rivals in the same party seeking the endorsement of former President Arthur “Artie” Hockstader (James Earl Jones). The escalating drama echoes the dirty tactics being used in modern politics, and the witty, often biting dialogue really transports audiences into this intense race that unfolds primarily in two hotel suites during convention time.
Turning the Tables
While the cast features many high powered stars — Candice Bergen, Angela Lansbury and Michael McKean among then — another key player in this production is scenic designer Derek McLane, whose striking yet formal set design helps pull us into this crooked world. The two main hotel rooms are adjacent to one another and rearranged between scenes on a two-turntable system that allows for quick transitions. Despite the impressive technical changes, McLane did not want to draw too much attention to his work once it was up front and center.
“I wanted there to be enough realism to those rooms,” the Tony Award-winning designer told PLSN. “So much of the play is about conversations that are private and conversations that are public, so making the delineation between who’s in the room and who’s not in the room is really important. The realism of the sets is important on that level. I wanted the transitions to be interesting to look at because there are quite a few of them, so I worked hard to figure out how to make them be exciting.”
Director Michael Wilson also wanted to open up the play outside of the two main hotel suites. According to McLane, Gore Vidal’s original script was centered on those rooms, and, for this production, he added the central spaces flanked by diagonal walls on either side for brief press conferences that take place over the course of the three-act play. “Some of the text from those scenes is from the play and some is from the movie, which Michael added with Gore’s permission,” revealed McLane. “That was interesting for me because it was a bit more of a challenge. It required creating some more places, and I really enjoyed that. The other thing that we did that is not scripted is trying to create a sense of the presence of the convention itself.”
A Sense of Place
The scenic designer was given a specific edict from the director and producer for the wood and steel sets — it was important to be clear as to whether the characters were in a hotel room or not. Within Russell’s suite there are living room and bedroom areas, which was tricky because there could not be too much of a wall between the two or else it would cut into the sightlines. A doorway and a small section of wall exist perpendicular to the back wall to give a sense of separation.
Senator Cantwell’s suite was simpler to create because his character, unlike that of Russell, has less money and a smaller campaign team. He even has boxed campaign merchandise in his room. Secretary Russell’s less cluttered living room area reflects his greater means, including his two suite entrances at stage left. One goes out to the candidate’s war room where plenty of audible “buzzing” from his larger campaign staff can we heard, and the other is a different exit. His bedroom at stage right also has an unseen exit to an adjoining suite through the barely visible bathroom.
“Slightly Generic”
Despite the obvious spatial differences between the gold and pale green-colored suites, McLane tried to make them have a similar feeling. He stated that many hotel rooms have a slightly generic quality.
“They’re not decorated all that individually, and they’re a little bit anonymous. I very deliberately used the same wallpaper and the same furniture in both hotel suites. They’re totally different floor plans, but the look is the same in each of them, and it really makes you feel like you’re in a hotel.”
When asked how he came up with the predominately two-room system, McLane replied, “The spatial logistics of it is really complicated. It’s the two rooms and the press conference area. I came up with it pretty quickly as I started working on this, but then figuring out the specifics of it took a long time.”
With regards to switching between the hotel set pieces, he added, “With Russell’s suite and Cantwell’s suite, once the turntables turn, they each have a gap in the middle. So there’s a wall that slides over to fill that gap for both of them. In Cantwell’s suite it’s dead center, and a piece of wall slides out from behind the window that fills that gap.”
McLane admitted that he did not look at photos of past productions of The Best Man when designing for the latest incarnation. “I did read the reviews of the old productions, because I wanted to see what they had said, specifically about the design. I actually finally looked up [old design] pictures after I finished my design, but I wanted to do it on my own first. I definitely learned something from reading about the old productions, and the director had seen the previous production. That was also helpful.”
Scaling the Walls
Faced with set walls that are 12 feet tall, lighting designer Kenneth Posner had challenges in lighting the sets. “There were lots, because I tried to create a sense of the ceiling with the ceiling beams overhead,” said McLane. “He’s not able to use sidelight at all because of the walls, so it’s a limited space to light, and he did a great job.”
The most dramatic lighting comes during the final press conference, when the winner of the party nomination is seen in towering silhouette behind a large flag that is unfurled from the ceiling. “We have a flag that flies in at the very end. We do create diagonals by turning the turntables [in the other press conferences]. The ceiling beams fly out, so it actually makes it feel taller when we go into those press conferences.”
The Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre has decent wing space, and it gets used up by the various set pieces that slide around on the turntables. But the production team also had to add in an important unseen element: James Earl Jones’s dressing room, located in the corner upstage left.
“He has a hard time with stairs now,” said McLane. “In order to accommodate his needs, we built his own dressing room there. It’s not a grand thing, it’s a very modest little dressing room, but the dressing room situation in that theater is enormously difficult because there are lots and lots of stairs. Most of the dressing rooms are up three or four flights of steep stairs. We had a little space back in the corner there and were able to make a modest little dressing room there so he doesn’t have to go up the stairs.”
“He’s a total gentleman,” declared McLane of actor Jones. “He’s the most wonderful man. He loves doing the show and is apparently having the time of his life. He wants to keep doing it all summer. It’s a great cast.”
Not Over the Top
The formal, more utilitarian sets of The Best Man are an interesting contrast to McLane’s more colorful, ornate and lavish set pieces of Nice Work If You Can Get It, the retro musical comedy also on Broadway that stars Matthew Broderick and Kelli O’Hara. “Nice Work is so much more whimsical and silly,” noted McLane, “and I think The Best Man wants enough realism that you really invest in the story, and you don’t necessarily think about the design so much. The world of Nice Work is a lot more make-believe. Of course, it has to have some realism, but it’s obviously a silly world of gangsters.”
Nice Work echoes 1920s Hollywood musicals with its focus on whimsy and letting the audience have a good time. “Nice Work really works if you just enjoy it and experience it,” stated McLane. “There’s not a tremendous amount to sit and think about; it really works best when it’s funny and entertaining. Whereas with The Best Man, there’s quite a lot to think about afterwards. You leave and think about all the presidential campaigns that you’ve paid attention to over the last 40 years and how much truth is in there and how much of this is based on Gore Vidal’s own experiences as a political candidate.”
McLane enjoyed his experiences on The Best Man, and he had not worked with two turntables in a long time. “They were right next to each other, and that’s how the original Broadway production was done,” he explained, referring to the original production back in 1960. (It was also adapted into a film in 1964). “It looked completely different and didn’t go to those other spaces. I can’t take credit for that as a new idea — people have been doing that for a while — but that was exciting for me to explore.”
The award-winning scenic designer is known for lavish, colorful eye-popping sets — most notably Follies, Ragtime, Anything Goes and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying over the last three years — but being bigger is not always what drives him.
“For me, the most thrilling thing is when a show is good,” asserted McLane. “I get the biggest thrill when I feel that a play or musical really works, and ultimately I care much more about that than whether the set does a lot of tricks. It just depends on the show. Some things are really, really simple and really work. Years ago, I did a show called I Am My Own Wife on Broadway that I was really proud of, and there were no moving parts in it. It was sort of complicated and totally simple at the same time, and it was really an acting platform on a chair and table and a lot of stuff in the background, but it was carefully thought out. I think it really helped tell the story really effectively, but it wasn’t complicated and had no tricks to it.”
