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CHURCHILL Send This Review to a Friend
Actor Ronald Keaton doesn’t look much like the renowned late British wartime Prime Minister in the SoloChicago Theatre’s production “Churchill.” That’s less of a problem than his voice. We know what Churchill sounds like, and Keaton doesn’t hit the mark. In fact, although I respected Keaton’s yeoman effort to bring the man, his towering reputation, and his wit to the fore, the actor kept reminding me more of Edmund Gwenn in “Miracle on 34th Street” than of the great man.
On the upside, what Keaton, who based his adaptation on the life and works of Churchill and the teleplay “Winston Churchill” by Dr. James C. Humes, does succeed in accomplishing is recalling much of what the well-spoken leader had to say and the time in which he lived. That’s a worthy achievement.
Whether pontificating on the problems with which Churchill grappled, or delivering a well-known funny jab at Lady Astor, Keaton celebrates the man and his life. The occasion is well-timed to the 50th year since Churchill’s death.
Keaton struts upon the stage attempting to convey Churchill’s mannerisms and aura. Background illustrations by projection designer Paul Deziel help provide period authenticity, and director Kurt Johns never loses sight of the need to focus sharply on the actor in his office habitat, or when he ventures elsewhere, with no distractions.
This may not be a perfect emulation of Churchill, but at least there is the recollection of what the man stood for and his time upon the world stage, especially his wartime leadership in Britain’s heroic fight for survival against the Nazi menace. One can argue with Churchill’s Tory politics, but not with the powerful role that he played rallying Britain in its hour of need. And in this recounting, his words are gallantly there for us to savor anew. At New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street. Phone: 212-239-6200. Reviewed February 19, 2015.
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