Though best known for his novels and essays, Gore Vidal, who died this week at 86, had a decent run on Broadway. Between 1957 and 1972, he wrote five plays, including two hits, “A Visit to a Small Planet” (1957) and “The Best Man” (1960), a fine revival of which is running at the Schoenfeld.
So why did he abandon Broadway? In a word, critics.
“They have no power anywhere else but the theater,” he once told me in an interview.
“At first, people like Tennessee [Williams] and me were saved by The Times because they had Brooks Atkinson and he was not reachable by people with an agendum at The Times. Then when he retired, a guy called Howard Taubman came along, who was out to get just about everyone. He had an enemies list.
“I remember Edward Albee saying it’s like being in school with a teacher, and we’re writing our plays to hand them in to Mr. Taubman, of all people, to grade! And I said, ‘Well, I think I’m going to Europe, and write some novels.’ And Edward looked just terribly sad because he was going to stay.”
Vidal’s last play, “An Evening With Richard Nixon,” ran just 16 performances in 1972. He went off to Europe to write novels.
Jump ahead to 2000, when Jeffrey Richards, then a fledgling producer, thought it would be fun to revive “The Best Man,” a sharp, cynical melodrama about an American political convention, during an election year.
Richards, his director in tow, made the pilgrimage to Ravello, Italy, where Vidal lived in a palazzo overlooking the Mediterranean. They were greeted by Vidal’s partner, Howard Austen.
“Look, guys,” he said. “If you want to take off your clothes and go swimming in the pool, go right ahead.”
“We kind of passed on that,” Richards recalls. They were ushered into the living room, where Vidal sat amid acres of books and photos of famous friends. “I knew we were going to have grand fun that weekend,” Richards says. “Gore was a master raconteur. He took us to lunch in the village, and everybody said ‘Buon giorno!’ to him. He loved it.”
Vidal, who had yet to give Richards permission to do his play, asked if it needed updating.
“There are no secrets in politics anymore, and conventions have become coronations,” Richards replied. “I don’t think we should update it.”
Vidal smiled.
“I think,” he said, “you should do my play.”
At the time, there was a Taye Diggs movie called “The Best Man.” Richards asked if he could change the title to “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man” to avoid confusion.
“I thought you’d never ask,” Vidal said.
The 2000 production of “The Best Man” was only so-so. But the play, which had been forgotten, proved as pungent as ever, and Vidal was delighted to be back on Broadway. Richards took him to the theater to look at his name on the marquee.
“It’s been such a long time,” he said.
Then they went to the Plaza Hotel, where Richards, as a gift, had booked an aroma therapy session for Vidal at the spa.
Vidal grimaced.
“I’ve never heard of anything so hideous in my life!’
In 2012, Richards wanted to revive “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man” yet again during an election year.
Vidal’s response?
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Vidal was delighted with the cast — Angela Lansbury, Candice Bergen, John Larroquette, James Earl Jones.
After a rehearsal, Lansbury asked him, “Gore, is it going to be OK?”
“You’re so funny,” he said.
“Oh? Where?”
“In ‘Murder, She Wrote’!”
It was obvious his health was failing. He had trouble breathing, and tired easily. But he still liked a Bombay gin martini — or four — with the cast after rehearsals.
“You would never go out for a drink with Gore,” says Richards. “You would go out for drinks.”
This time around, “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man” was a hit. It was nominated for a Tony, though it lost to the revival of “Death of a Salesman.”
It’s ensconced at the Schoenfeld until September with a new cast, including Cybill Shepherd, Elizabeth Ashley and John Stamos.
At 8 tonight, Broadway will dim its lights in Vidal’s honor.
Richards spoke to him shortly before he died.
“It’s nice,” Vidal said, “to go out with a smash.”