Frost/Nixon (play)

Last updated

Frost/Nixon
Frostnixonposter.png
Original poster
Written by Peter Morgan
Characters David Frost
Richard Nixon
Date premiered2006
Place premiered Donmar Warehouse, London
Original languageEnglish
SubjectThe Frost/Nixon interviews
Genre Drama

Frost/Nixon is a 2006 British historical play by Peter Morgan. The play is based on a series of controversial televised interviews granted by former U.S. president Richard Nixon to English broadcaster David Frost in 1977. The interviews focused on Nixon's administration, including his role in the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to his resignation as president.

Contents

Performance history

The play premiered at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London in August 2006, directed by Michael Grandage and starring Michael Sheen as the talk-show host and Frank Langella as the former president. Frost/Nixon received enthusiastic reviews in the British press. It then played at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End, again starring Langella and Sheen.

On March 31, 2007, the play began previews on Broadway. It officially opened as a limited engagement at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on April 22 and closed on August 19, after 137 performances. The cast included Langella, Sheen, Remy Auberjonois (John Birt), Shira Gregory (Evonne Goolagong), Corey Johnson (Jack Brennan), Stephen Kunken (James Reston Jr.), Stephen Rowe (Swifty Lazar/Mike Wallace), Triney Sandoval (Manolo Sanchez), Armand Schultz (Bob Zelnick) and Sonya Walger (Caroline Cushing).

TimeLine Theatre Company in Chicago ran the play from August 21 to October 10, 2010. [1] [2]

In regional theatre, Frost/Nixon made its Ohio premiere at the Rabbit Run Theatre in Madison, Ohio. The U.S. Rocky Mountain regional premiere was directed and designed by John Thornberry for Longmont Theatre Company in Longmont, Colorado, and ran from November 4 to 19, 2011.

The show received its Philadelphia premiere with New City Stage Company December 5, 2013 to January 4, 2014. The show was a combination of the stage play and the screenplay for the film Frost/Nixon and received wide acclaim. Dan Olmstead, who portrayed Richard Nixon, received a Barrymore Award nomination, and Russ Widdall, who portrayed David Frost, received a citation from Philadelphia Weekly for one of the 2014's most notable performances.

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

YearAward ceremonyCategoryNomineeResult
2007 Tony Award Best Play Nominated
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play Frank Langella Won
Best Direction of a Play Michael Grandage Nominated
Drama Desk Award Outstanding Play Peter Morgan Nominated
Outstanding Actor in a Play Frank Langella Won
Outstanding Director of a Play Michael Grandage Nominated
Outstanding Music in a Play Adam CorkNominated
Outer Critics Circle Award Outstanding New PlayNominated
Outstanding Actor in a Play Frank Langella Won
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play Stephen Kunken Nominated
Outstanding Director of a Play Michael Grandage Nominated
Outstanding Lighting DesignNeil AustinNominated
Drama League Award Distinguished Production of a PlayNominated

Feature film

Ron Howard directed a 2008 film adaptation of the play. [3] The film was produced by Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Films for Universal Pictures. Shooting began on August 27, 2007. [4] Langella and Sheen reprised their roles for the film.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Mendes</span> British stage and film director (born 1965)

Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes is a British film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter. In 2000, Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and he was knighted in the 2020 New Years Honours List.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Sheen</span> Welsh actor

Michael Christopher Sheen is a Welsh actor. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage roles in Romeo and Juliet (1992), Don't Fool with Love (1993), Peer Gynt (1994), The Seagull (1995), The Homecoming (1997), and Henry V (1997). His performances in Amadeus at the Old Vic and Look Back in Anger at the National Theatre were nominated for Olivier Awards in 1998 and 1999, respectively. In 2003, he was nominated for a third Olivier Award for his performance in Caligula at the Donmar Warehouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Frost</span> British television host and journalist (1939–2013)

Sir David Paradine Frost was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme That Was the Week That Was in 1962. His success on this show led to work as a host on American television. He became known for his television interviews with senior political figures, among them the Nixon interviews with US president Richard Nixon in 1977 which were adapted into a stage play and film. Frost interviewed all eight British prime ministers serving from 1964 to 2016, from Alec Douglas-Home to David Cameron, and all eight American presidents in office from 1969 to 2008, from Lyndon B. Johnson to George W. Bush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Langella</span> American actor (born 1938)

Frank A. Langella Jr. is an American actor known for his roles on stage and screen. He eschewed the career of a traditional film star by always making the stage the focal point of his career, appearing frequently on Broadway. He has received numerous accolades including four Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, an Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Marber</span> English comedian, playwright, director

Patrick Albert Crispin Marber is an English comedian, playwright, director, actor, and screenwriter.

Conor McPherson is an Irish playwright, screenwriter and director of stage and film. In recognition of his contribution to world theatre, McPherson was awarded a honorary doctorate of literature in June 2013 by the University College Dublin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donmar Warehouse</span> Theatre in Covent Garden, London, England

The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Logan (writer)</span> American film producer and screenwriter

John David Logan is an American playwright and filmmaker. He is known for his work as a screenwriter for such films as Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000), Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (2004) and Hugo (2011), Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and Sam Mendes' James Bond films Skyfall (2012), and Spectre (2015). He has been nominated three times for Academy Awards, and has won a Tony Award and a Golden Globe Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Warchus</span> British director and dramatist

Matthew Warchus is an English theatre director, filmmaker and dramaturg. He has been the Artistic Director of London's The Old Vic since September 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Grandage</span> British theatre director (born 1962)

Michael Grandage CBE is a British theatre director and producer. He is currently Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company. From 2002 to 2012 he was Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse in London and from 2000 to 2005 he was Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres.

Douglas William Hodge is an English actor, director, and musician who has had an extensive career in theatre, as well as television and film where he has appeared in Robin Hood (2010), Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return and Diana (2013), Penny Dreadful (2016), Catastrophe (2018), Joker and Lost in Space (2019), and The Great (2020–2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Morgan</span> British film writer and playwright

Peter Julian Robin Morgan, is a British screenwriter and playwright. He has written for theatre, films and television, often writing about historical events or figures such as Queen Elizabeth II, whom he has covered extensively in all major media. He has received a number of accolades including five BAFTA Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award. In February 2017, Morgan was awarded a British Film Institute Fellowship.

Robert Michael John Fox is an English theatre and film producer, whose work includes the 2002 film The Hours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Crowley (director)</span> Irish film and theatre director

John Crowley is an Irish film and theatre director. He is best known for the films Brooklyn (2015) and his debut feature, Intermission (2003), for which he won an Irish Film and Television Award for Best Director. He is a brother of the designer Bob Crowley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josie Rourke</span> English theatre and film director

Josie Rourke is an English theatre and film director. She is a Vice-President of the London Library and was the artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse theatre from 2012 to 2019. In 2018, she made her feature film debut with the Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated historical drama Mary Queen of Scots, starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie.

<i>Frost/Nixon</i> (film) 2008 historical drama film

Frost/Nixon is a 2008 historical drama film based on the 2006 play of the same name by Peter Morgan, who also adapted the screenplay. The film tells the story behind the Frost/Nixon interviews of 1977. The film was directed by Ron Howard. A co-production of the United States, the United Kingdom and France, the film was produced for Universal Pictures by Howard, Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment, and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title Films, and received five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Oram</span> British theatre set and costume designer

Christopher Oram is a British theatre set and costume designer.

Caroline Sheen is a Welsh actress who has played leading roles on stage in the West End alongside TV and film appearances. She won a Helen Hayes award for playing the role of Mary Poppins on the National Tour of America.

<i>Red</i> (play) Play about artist Mark Rothko

Red is a two-handed play by American writer John Logan about artist Mark Rothko. It was first produced by the Donmar Warehouse, London, on December 8, 2009, in a production directed by Michael Grandage. It then transferred to Broadway in March 2010 with the same two leads, Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne, where it won many Tony Awards.

References

  1. BWW News Desk (8 April 2010). "TimeLine Theater Announces Their 2010-11 Season". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved on 8 April 2010.
  2. "Night and Day, Remy Bummpo Theatre Company; Frost/Nixon, TimeLine Theatre Company; Theater Reviews by Terry Teachout - WSJ.com". online.wsj.com. 1 October 2010. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
  3. On-line interview with actor Michael Sheen
  4. "Arts Briefly", The New York Times, 1 May 2007