The play takes us behind the scenes of the Woodrow Wilson administration in 1915.
New Jersey native and Tony-winning playwright Joe DiPietro is back at New Brunswick's George Street Playhouse for the fifth time, with a historical drama called "The Second Mrs. Wilson." It's only the play's second production, following its world premiere at New Haven's Long Wharf Theater last May.
The play takes us behind the scenes of the Woodrow Wilson administration as the President's inner circle must scramble to support the leader they adore. The task is not easy, and the play's best moments are its most panicked. The President (John Glover) is struggling with his health. His political enemies are gaining force. Nobody knows how best to respond, but they are determined to hold the line.
The play picks up Wilson's story in the middle of his first term, as World War I rages in Europe and criticisms about the President's decision to enter the war are mounting. At the same time, Wilson -- whose wife died in 1914, a little more than a year into his Presidency -- falls hard for a widow and jeweler named Edith Bolling Galt (Laila Robins), causing his enemies to leer and his allies to fret about her influence. (Wilson went on to marry Galt in December 1915.)
The press materials for "The Second Mrs. Wilson" bill it as "The story of the 'first' female President!", clearly riffing on the contemporary possibility of a woman in the oval office. And on the surface, it may seem like DiPietro is working through the lens of history to ponder ideas of female leadership. This resonance isn't necessarily unfounded in the play, but "The Second Mrs. Wilson" is also something much more complex -- a portrait of an entire political ecosystem in crisis.
Edith (played with stalwart elegance by Robins) is an important driving force of the efforts to protect Wilson, but she by no means acts alone. The strength of DiPietro's play is the way it captures the urgent desperation of Wilson's advisers, including Secretary Joe Tumulty (Michael McGrath), Dr. Cary Grayson (Stephen Barker Turner), and Colonel Edward House (Stephen Spinella). All are as equally committed to Wilson's cause as they are uncertain of how to proceed.
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The Wilson character -- an unflappable ideologue -- is far less complicated, but Glover (a veteran character actor who's been nominated for five Emmys) manages to make him compelling. It might be difficult to recognize the great political leadership his allies see in this President, but Glover spares nothing in showing us the man's great passion. When Wilson faces opposition from Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (Sherman Howard, wonderful as the grandstanding heel), Glover shows us the President utterly baffled as to how somebody could possibly not see matters his way.
Opening night of "The Second Mrs. Wilson" was on the evening of recent terrorist attacks in Paris -- and more than any particular political maneuvering, the most resounding contemporary resonance of DiPietro's play deals with the President's steadfast call for world peace. His lack of political savvy costs him in the end, and the real lesson here isn't about what happens when a woman seizes power. It's about what happens when the international collaboration becomes secondary to domestic partisan squabbling.
The Second Mrs. Wilson
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George St. Playhouse, 9 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick through Nov. 29
Tickets: $28 - $69. Available online or by phone, (732) 246-7717
Patrick Maley may be reached at patrickjmaley@gmail.com. Find him on Twitter@PatrickJMaley. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.
