The Best Man

Mr.Kenwright is also advertising it as the British Premiere - which it isn't! It was staged originally at the Edinburgh Royal Lyceum Theatre in 1981 with a cast including William Lucas, Jan Harvey, Andrew Crawford and Jane Lowe and directed by Leslie Lawton. Maybe Mr.K means "English" Premiere!!!

I saw the 1964 film version of The Best Man, the screenplay also written by Gore Vidal the author of the play that premiered in 1960, on a rainy Sunday afternoon decades ago and was surprised I'd never heard of the film before, yet another reminder of what else must lie relatively unseen in the film archives. Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson starred in the film but the cast generally was good, about a conflict that had been inspired by Vidal's thoughts about the US Democratic Party Convention. Real politicians, whether idealistic, conniving or vicious, had inspired Vidal to write convincing characters and Vidal in any case could write as his various works attest. It is one of those films that suggest it began life as a compelling stage play.

A somewhat similar style of US film is Advise & Consent, that is advertised on the IMBD website page for The Best Man. The former featured Henry Fonda, Walter Pigeon, Gene Tierney and a particularly memorable Charles Laughton, under direction of Otto Preminger. Hollywood made some decent and intelligent films in those days, and in black and white with all those shades of grey. 

Lots of shows use that line, including several that name came to fruition. Makes it more appealing to Regional audiences. [/quote]


You are right in that much of the time the words "Prior to the West End" mean diddly squat, however if Kenwright tours something with either Jenny Seagrove or Martin Shaw then it's exceptional for it not to land in the West End.

I've been keeping an eye on this and have found a couple of good reviews from the first venue (I think), i.e. Windsor - although they're from local papers/sites, which we know tend to be more favourable. I looked at trying to book for Richmond but the prices were eye-watering, even for the midweek matinee - no concessions - and indeed no members'offers for any performance that I could find. So rather than paying about £36 (the lowest price I saw for a reasonable seat), I'll wait and hope this does extend to other venues or go into the West End - it has to be cheaper there!

If you have an ATG card you can get best available seats at Richmond from one hour before the performance for £11.  I've done it many times and the seats are normally really good

It's not publicised because no other ATG theatre does it as far as I know.

Richmond theatre used to have their own membership card before ATG took over. One of the perks was that you could buy up to 2 tickets per card reduced to £11 from one hour before the show starts. When ATG took over the theatre decided to keep that perk for ATG membership card holders, I guess to keep their local patrons happy and to make sure they kept renewing their membership. I've been using my ATG card in Richmond for this discount for about 5 years and I've never been turned away even on busy nights. The worst ticket I got was the last row of the Dress Circle and it was fine as it's not a massive theatre.

Hope this helps!

If you ask at the box office what your chances are, they will of course tell you that there's no guarantee. They have to cover their backs in case they sell out. But as I said before I've always got 2 tickets one hour before the show. We tend to go during the week, as the tickets you get tend to be better, but even the few times we've gone to weekend performances the tickets have always been ok. Good luck!

Went to see The Best Man in Richmond last night and it looked pretty sold out.

It's got a cracking cast of TV favourites, including the great Jack Shephard(Great on the NT stage many times, too), Honeysuckle Weeks and Anthony Howell (Foyle's War) Gemma Jones (Duchess of Duke Street, anyone?! ) Glynis Barber (Dempsey and Makepeace), Jeff Fahey (Lost) and of course, Martin Shaw, of many TV and stage appearances and who does seem to have a large female fan base! 

Enjoyed the play though was slightly distracted at the beginning by having a fan girly moment over the cast! 

At one point, someone's  phone went went off during an intense conversation between Jack Shepherd and Martin Shaw. They both paused and Martin Shaw asked 'Shall we wait?' before continuing. Well handled and straight back to the script! 

Technically, it's a huge set, which looked like it might have caused a bit of bother to fit onto the Richmond stage as it depicts a large, plush hotel room with a bedroom behind it. 

The Best Man is a 1960 play by American playwright Gore Vidal. The play premiered on Broadway in 1960 and was nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Play. Vidal adapted it into a film with the same title in 1964.

Vidal's drama is about two presidential party candidates who are level in the polls for their party's nomination. All that separates an ex-Secretary of State and a populist newcomer is an endorsement from a former President.


Tweet from Monday.