BWW Reviews: RIDE THE TIGER at Long Wharf Theatre

William Mastrosimone's riveting new play, Ride the Tiger, rips off the façade off Camelot. The play explores the partly fictional, possibly true relationship between John F. Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Sam Giancana and the woman they all shared, Judy (as in Judith Campbell Exner). Mastrosimone originally wrote about this topic in his Golden Globe award winning 1992 miniseries, Sinatra, but had to remove it to avoid a lawsuit. That was then. This is now. And since then, there has been even more speculation, debunked myths, conspiracy theories and media devotion to the Kennedys.

This second production of Ride the Tiger has perfect casting with Douglas Sills as Jack, Paul Anthony Stewart as Frank, Jordan Lage as Sam, Christina Bennett Lind as Judy, and John Cunningham as Joseph Kennedy, Sr. One person who is not in the play is Jackie, but this show does very well with just a few references to her, even in the last scene which makes you think about one of the theories of JFK's assassination.

The play takes place between 1959 and 1963. Sven Ortel's exceptional projection design distinguishes Cape Cod, Las Vegas, Miami Beach, New York, Palm Beach, Los Angeles, Chicago and the White House for Eugene Lee's simple, but effective, set. Mastrosimone's dialogue is sharp and funny and almost every word carries its weight throughout the two hour and 35 minute show. The scenes between JFK and Judy and Judy and Sam were written seamlessly and staged brilliantly, almost in the style of Alan Ayckbourn.

There are, however, two slight weaknesses in the play. First is Judy's naïve thinking that her married lover will leave his wife and marry her. That rarely happens, although, ironically, Frank did leave his wife for Ava Gardener. Judy is a big game hunter -- and gatherer. She knows that such high-octane men are temporary and that any expensive gift of jewelry she receives "has blood on it." More important is what seems as an assumption that everyone, regardless of age, understands the Kennedy fixation in the United States. The 1960 presidential election was the tightest one during the last century, including the 2000 race between Bush and Gore. JFK's victory was needle-thin and rumor had it that Sam swung union votes to help JFK win the primaries. ("I own Chicago," Sam had told Judy evenly.) But once JFK became president, he was like a rock star, and Jackie was a goddess, and the tragedies that continued to haunt the Kennedy family only added to their near-deification. Would people under the age of 50 really understand this adulation? (By coincidence, at the time this play opened at the Long Wharf, JFK's only immediate survivor, was being considered for the position of ambassador to Japan despite her lackluster interviews when she was under consideration as then Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton's replacement, as well as her lack of experience and knowledge of Japanese.)

Other than that, the characters are well-written and well-portrayed by the cast. Sills wisely avoids focusing on JFK's distinctive hairstyle, huge smile and charisma since that is rarely duplicated in the many portrayals of him. His JFK is less confident than we think of him. In this play he is his father's puppet, a weak substitute for his older brother who died a hero in World War II. Cunningham is definitive as the ambitious and controlling Kennedy patriarch, from the moment he talks about his ambitious plans for his dynasty to his scene as a wheel-chair bound stroke victim who can no longer control his golden boy. Stewart, a cerebral and polished actor, evokes the complexity of Sinatra, including his heartbreak over Ava Gardener and his aching need to belong and be respected. Lind brings grace and sweetness to Judy. Lage steals the show as Sam, the man who had an IQ of 71, but who made $2 million, according to the FBI report. (Even Judy remarked about the absurdity of that report.) He goes from charming and caring to coldly realistic and ruthless with unnerving credibility.

Gordon Edelstein's direction is faultless. Valets (Barbara Hentschel and Kenneth Murray) moved pieces of the set as if they were indeed servants of the ruling classes, both legitimate and underground. Their costumes were designed Jess Goldstein. Tyler Micoleau's lighting design and Ryan Rumery's original music and sound design made it all seem, well, as "Nice and Easy" as the Sinatra song.

About the title. Originally called Dirty Business, the aphorism has multiple origins and even translations. Harry S. Truman said, "I discovered that being a President is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep on riding or be swallowed." The Chinese proverb 'Ch'i 'hu nan hsia pei' can be translated as "He who rides a tiger is afraid to get off" or "Once you climb the tiger, it's hard to get off." All five characters rode the tiger, and it was both exhilarating and dangerous for them. For audiences, seeing the play is the theatrical equivalent of riding the tiger.

Ride the Tiger gallops through April 21 on Long Wharf Theatre's Mainstage. Tickets are $40-$70: 203-787-4282; www.longwharf.org.

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