William
Penn Adair Rogers, known to millions of Americans as Will said, “When I die I
want my epitaph, or whatever you call those signs on gravestones, to read: I joked about every prominent man of my
time, but I never met a man I didn’t like. I am so proud of that, I can hardly wait to die so it can be
carved.” Unfortunately, he got his
wish on August 15, 1935 when the Alaskan bound plane he was flying in with
aviator Wiley Post crashed.
Rogers,
who is the subject of the one-man show, WILL ROGERS’ U.S.A., which is now on
stage at Actors’ Summit Theatre, was probably Oklahoma’s favorite son. What many don’t know is, this adored
story teller, actor, writer and world-famous figure was born to a prominent
Cherokee National family in the Indian Territory.
A
leading Progressive Era wit, after many years in vaudeville, doing rope tricks
and making humorous comments, he became the top-paid Hollywood star during the
30s. He poked fun at gangsters,
politicians, parents, teenagers, law schools, colleges, political conventions,
Republicans, economists, and government programs in a way that didn’t offend. (Wow, could we use his sage comments
during the present vile political race.)
He
is widely known for his, “I am not a member of an organized political party, I
am a Democrat.” He marked among
his friends, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Some
of his other sage comments included:
“An ignorant person is one who doesn’t know what he has just found out,
” “Don’t gamble, take all your savings, buy some good stock and hold it till it
goes up, then sell it. If it don’t
go up, don’t buy it,” “Politics is the best show in the world,” “War is the
only game that everyone loses. Why do we keep playing?” and “I have always
noticed that people will never laugh at anything that is not based on the
truth.”
These,
and many other of Roger’s truthisms, are now being spoken by Neil Thackaberry, who
is portraying the revered icon at Actors’ Summit.
It’s
a difficult task to do a one-man show.
It is even more difficult when people have a visual image and know the
vocal sounds of the person being portrayed. Doing Rogers is further problematic as he was a quiet
comedian, a story teller who didn’t raise his voice, didn’t swear, told cute tales not hysterical jokes. To make a play about his life that will
hold attention his material needs to be incorporated into a song-filled, dance
infused, and humorous script like the delightful WILL ROGERS FOLLIES, rather
than to a 90-minute monologue.
Given
the challenge, Thackaberry, who bears little physical resemblance to the lanky
Rogers, and doesn’t possess the political philosopher’s natural audience
connection, does a nice job.
Thackaberry sends forth the many, many lines with ease, getting smiles
from the audience, and creating a nice atmosphere. He even delights the audience with a couple of rope
tricks. Two segments highlights were his discussion of corsets and
Calvin Coolidge.
The
set is a blank stage with a desk and chair way upstage. Why the decision was made to put the
desk so far away from the audience is a mystery. Each time Thackaberry wandered to it, he broke his
connection to the audience. That
connection is the heart of the show.
CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:
Will Rogers was a great American humorist and philosopher. His understated humor is sage wisdom,
but does not make for compelling theatre, in spite of a nice presentation by
Neil Thackaberry at Actors’ Summit.
This Actor’s Summit production is dedicated to the memory of Ira
Sherman, Board member, Set Builder, and Friend!
