John Lithgow stars as mighty scribe Joseph Alsop at Manhattan Theatre Club
BY MICHAEL SOMMERS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
BROADWAY REVIEW
Quick – who remembers Joseph Alsop?
I sure don’t, since Alsop retired as a syndicated political columnist back in 1974 when I was still a school boy.
But my elders tell me, and certainly playwright David Auburn assures the audience in his new drama “The Columnist,” that the WASP-y Alsop once was a significant conservative pundit and a Washington D.C. insider from the 1940s until he gracefully departed the political arena.
A Pulitzer-winner for “Proof,” Auburn now offers his latest work, “The Columnist” at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, where Manhattan Theatre Club’s proficient premiere opened on Wednesday.
Charmingly performed with aristocratic accents by the immensely personable John Lithgow, Alsop registers as a right-minded gentleman who enjoyed his influential powers and never missed a deadline.
