About the Play:

The Best Man is a full-length political drama by Gore Vidal. Does the best man go to the White House? It's a bruising presidential primary battle, full of dark secrets and blackmail, between a scholar with lofty principles and an ambitious young street fighter, egged on by an incumbent bent on playing king-maker. Who will come out on top in Gore Vidal's satire of campaign double-dealings?

The Best Man tells the tale of two candidates and their advisors playing an intense winner-take-all game of political cat and mouse competing for their party's nomination for President. At the Presidential primaries in the summer of 1960 in Philadelphia, promoting virtually identical policies, the two men's personalities define their true differences: William Russell, an ex-Secretary of State, is a scholar who who prides himself on his honesty. The other, Populist Southern senator Joseph Cantwell, is an ambitious man who isn't bothered by fighting dirty to reach his goals. Both candidates try to get the endorsement of the popular outgoing president, Arthur Hockstader, who enjoys not telling them which one he'll endorse and is set upon determining the outcome of this battle. Each candidate uncovers incriminating opposition research about the other which makes for lively theatre about the backstabbing world of political campaigns. The characters manoeuvre through the mazes of political intrigue with varying degrees of skill and expertise. In this time when politics are fiercely debated, The Best Man will have your audience hanging on every unpredictable twist, turn, play, and ploy, as secrets are revealed and allegiances are bought and sold.

The Best Man premiered in 1960 at the Morosco Theatre on Broadway, ran for more than 500 performances, and was nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Play. It spawned two Broadway revivals and was nominated in 2001 and 2012 for Best Revival of a Play. The play is regularly performed in regional, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 6 female, 14 male

What people say:

"…a vivid snapshot of American political life a half-century ago that shows both how much and how little has changed." — The Hollywood Reporter

"Modern political junkies and anyone craving a fix of old-time theater thrills should find it hard to resist…." — Newsday

"Gore Vidal's The Best Man makes you wish that Vidal were writing the dialogue for the presidential debates. It brings to the backstabbing world of campaigning the bright verbal fire that All About Eve and Sweet Smell of Success brought to the backstabbing worlds of show business and journalism." — The New York Times

"A sophisticated, elegant and damnably entertaining play." — The New Yorker

"Gore Vidal's best play! Well-crafted and witty with surprises, reversals, pungent character sketches, satire, worldly wisdom and juicy roles for all concerned." — The New York Magazine

" Gore Vidal's The Best Man is a winner! Extraordinarily fresh, witty, sharp and relevant." — New York Daily News

"Vidal's story is a corker! Suspenseful, funny, surprisingly fresh." — Associated Press

"Gore Vidal's best play! Well-crafted and witty with surprises, reversals, pungent character sketches, satire, worldly wisdom and juicy roles for all concerned." — The New York Magazine

About the Playwright:

Gore Vidal (1925-2012) was an American novelist, essayist, and dramatist. He was a keen observer of American politics (himself the grandson of a United States Senator and twice a candidate for higher office) with little tolerance for the system's corruption. The prolific man of letters produced dozens of novels, memoirs, plays, essays and screenplays, and was a voluble and unrestrained cultural commentator.