Ed Asner in FDR

The premiere performance of Edward Asner as FDR was astounding, funny, and focused. Playing to a full house at the Door Theatre in Wisconsin on Sept. 25th, the full-head-of-hair Asner brought FDR to life with a combination of vigor, vulnerability, and confrontative skill. Impeccable timing. Very few one man shows captivate but this one does - Asner brings the audience into his world so thoroughly we "see" FDRs family and friends on stage with him. Expert adaptation of Schary?s play, although pretending "it speaks to the times" here in 2009 is misleading. This script conveniently leaves out FDRs abysmal personal and political civil rights legacy; what he accomplished was only because of moral pressure from his First Lady. It was Hoover who had the integrity and courage to desegregate our armed forces, not Franklin. FDR had the skin privileges to be able to ignore racism in America and appease the anarchists. Obama does not. Because of current events, this homily to the late great FDR is clearly, once again, selective history for the dominant culture. Asner, thankfully, does not imbue his character with saintliness but captures the goodness of the man?s intent. The Emmy/Golden Globe/Lifetime Achievement winner is sharply superb. I participated in the emotionally sweeping standing ovation for this unbelievable 80 year old actor, and will gladly attend another performance of Edward Asner as FDR.

delete