Frost/Nixon

April 30, 2009 12:00 am
Los Angeles. CA. Mar. 11, 2009. The touring production of the play Frost/Nixon at the Ahmanson Theatre on Mar. 11, 2009. Stacy Keach as Richard M. Nixon.
Los Angeles. CA. Mar. 11, 2009. The touring production of the play Frost/Nixon at the Ahmanson Theatre on Mar. 11, 2009. Stacy Keach as Richard M. Nixon.

British playwright Peter Morgan does what he must to magnify the entertainment value of history. In 2006, he debuted three dramas about stumbling leaders: movies The Last King of Scotland and The Queen, and Frost/Nixon. The latter, recently adapted to film, relates how English TV host David Frost made a huge financial and career gamble to interview the disgraced former president. The gamble paid off: Frost recouped his investment by syndicating the famous 1977 broadcasts, and historians could debate whether, in fact, Tricky Dick had confessed his crimes or not. In this touring production of the play (running through Sunday), Stacy Keach plays Nixon opposite Alan Cox’s Frost. It’s a psychological prizefight between a friendly, breezy “people guy” and the brooding, fallen politician. MARGARET FRIEDMAN

Wed., May 6, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., May 7, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., May 8, 8 p.m.; Sat., May 9, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun., May 10, 1 & 6:30 p.m., 2009