The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
If, like me, you are a child of 1960's television shows, then you know how important Western shows (we called them "Cowboys and Indians") were to the viewing audience back then. There were a lot of them - Gunsmoke, Wanted Dead or Alive, Bat Masterson, The Lone Ranger., and at least a half-dozen more...a genre that captivated audiences for years. In 1962, a film came to the screens that, if you were a lucky kid (which I wasn't) you got a chance to go the the big screen and see a classic Western..."The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". Who can forget Jimmy Stewart, the mild-mannered guy who gets the girl (and a large political reputation) because of an odd twist of fate. Or, who can forget the turns-out-to-be the real hero, John Wayne, who showed us how to be a real stand up guy. And, then there was the consummate villain, Lee Marvin, who, as Liberty himself, showed us evil, Western-style. Images carved into Baby Boomer memories forever.
It's in that spirit that TRP offers up the theatrical version of this classic in a play that has all the flavor of the original film. The actors do a wonderful job showing us how people fall in love, how righteousness can get bent out of shape, how appearances can be deceiving, and - in an unfortunate modern sense for all of us today - politics can hinge of "fake news." The production is well-cast, and the awe shucks way that the John Wayne character (played by David Tufford) does it is very convincing...how he loves and then shows it is the core of this play...I'll not give it away here to anyone who is not as nostalgic for the plot as I am. Laura Hoover (as the central character Hallie Jackson) is a powerful actor who expresses the emotional roller coaster that her role imparts....she is literally the glue that holds the play together.
It's in that spirit that TRP offers up the theatrical version of this classic in a play that has all the flavor of the original film. The actors do a wonderful job showing us how people fall in love, how righteousness can get bent out of shape, how appearances can be deceiving, and - in an unfortunate modern sense for all of us today - politics can hinge of "fake news." The production is well-cast, and the awe shucks way that the John Wayne character (played by David Tufford) does it is very convincing...how he loves and then shows it is the core of this play...I'll not give it away here to anyone who is not as nostalgic for the plot as I am. Laura Hoover (as the central character Hallie Jackson) is a powerful actor who expresses the emotional roller coaster that her role imparts....she is literally the glue that holds the play together.