THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Rarely revived, State of the Union won a 1946 Pulitzer Prize and became a successful 1948 movie. It concerns Grant Matthews, a prominent aviation executive who emerges from World War II industrial leadership with immense prestige and respect. Party power brokers think Matthews, a liberal Republican, has Presidential potential. They begin grooming him as a candidate, which means withholding his views from public exposure and making backroom compromises. Is Matthews ambitious enough to take the bait and accept the entanglements? Or will his instinctive idealism win out? And what about his estranged wife?

So, why revive this play? Well, obviously, there's an election in less than a month. Also, the play's politics—although blandly generic—are as true now as then, dealing with power blocs, personality, secret money and the manipulation of public image. The power-brokers of this piece never once ask, "What will be best for the country?" Their interests are parochial and selfish as they remind Matthews that the professional pols select the candidates, not "the people." The rise of the primary election system ( unimportant in 1946 ) , has dulled that truth very little. Primary election success requires access to Big Money, which means an oligarchy still is in charge.

All of this is too true to be good and would make damn dull drama if State of the Union wasn't an old-fashioned well-made play crafted to witty sharpness by master authors from Broadway's Golden Age. Act I, rising action; Act II, conflict and crisis; Act III, resolution. Along the way it offers sharply-drawn personalities, political wisecracks, skillfully deployed exposition and enough factual references to make the play believable plus a love triangle. Hey, how can ya' fail?

Director Geoff Button moves the play briskly, keeping the blocking of his large cast clean and mostly simple on Marianna Csaszar's simple set which effectively uses white moldings, a parquet floor and traditional furniture to suggest Georgetown elegance. Leads Michael Daily and Kendra Thulin as Grant and Mary Matthews are veteran performers in command of the stage with a clear understanding of the characters they play. Kristina Johnson provides glamour in the underwritten role of newspaper mogul Kay Thorndyke, the other woman in Grant's life. BF Helman does what's needed as chief party strategist James Conover, but he has less range than the others in a role requiring a high degree of charm. Comic kudos go to Anderson Lawfer and Kate Harris ( good to have you back! ) as, respectively, Matthew's road manager and a hard-drinking political wife. The types and the portrayals are broad but enjoyable.

Audiences today may not know who Walter Lippmann, Senator Taft and Harold Stassen were, but not to worry: names change but political types remain the same, alas.