''Frost/Nixon'' is a 2006 British historical play by screenwriter and dramatist

Peter Morgan Peter Julian Robin Morgan, (10 April 1963) is a British screenwriter and playwright. He is the playwright behind '' The Audience'' and '' Frost/Nixon'' and the screenwriter of ''The Queen'' (2006), '' Frost/Nixon'' (2008), '' The Damned Unit ...

based on a series of controversial televised interviews of the same name that former U.S. President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

had granted English broadcaster

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ...

in 1977 about his administration, including his role in the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...

that ultimately led to his resignation.

Performance history

The play premiered at the

Donmar Warehouse The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977. Sam Mendes, Michael Grandage and Josie Rourke have all served as artistic director, a post held since 2019 by Mi ...

theatre in London in August 2006, directed by Michael Grandage and starring

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage rol ...

as the talk-show host and

Frank Langella Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's '' Frost/Nixon'' and as André in Flor ...

as the former president. ''Frost/Nixon'' received enthusiastic reviews in the British press. It then played at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End, again starring Langella and Sheen. On March 31, 2007, the play began previews on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

. It officially opened as a limited engagement at the

Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (formerly the Royale Theatre and the John Golden Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 242 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the theat ...

on April 22 and closed on August 19, after 137 performances. The cast included Langella, Sheen, Remy Auberjonois (

John Birt John Birt, Baron Birt (born 10 December 1944) is a British television executive and businessman. He is a former Director-General (1992–2000) of the BBC. After a successful career in commercial television, initially at Granada Television an ...

), Shira Gregory (

Evonne Goolagong Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley (née Goolagong; born 31 July 1951) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Goolagong was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. At the age of 19, she won the French Open sing ...

), Corey Johnson ( Jack Brennan), Stephen Kunken ( James Reston Jr.), Stephen Rowe (

Swifty Lazar Irving Paul "Swifty" Lazar (March 28, 1907 – December 30, 1993) was an American talent agent and dealmaker, representing both movie stars and authors. Early life and education Born Samuel Lazar to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, he gr ...

Mike Wallace Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. He interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade career. He was one of the original correspo ...

), Triney Sandoval (Manolo Sanchez), Armand Schultz (

Bob Zelnick Carl Robert Zelnick (August 9, 1940 – September 23, 2019) was an American journalist, author and professor of journalism at the Boston University College of Communication, and winner of two Emmy Awards and two Gavel Awards. Career Early in ...

) and Sonya Walger (Caroline Cushing).

TimeLine Theatre Company TimeLine Theatre Company is a not-for-profit theatre company located in the Lakeview East neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1997, TimeLine is a midsize theater with an annual budget exceeding $1 million. History TimeLine Theatre ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

ran the play from August 21 to October 10, 2010. In regional theatre, ''Frost/Nixon'' made its Ohio premiere at the Rabbit Run Theatre in

Madison, Ohio Madison is a village in Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,184 at the 2010 census. Madison was incorporated as a village in 1867. Geography Madison is located at . According to the United States Census Bureau, the vill ...

. The U.S. Rocky Mountain regional premiere was directed and designed by John Thornberry for Longmont Theatre Company in

Longmont, Colorado The City of Longmont is a List of cities and towns in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality located in Boulder County, Colorado, Boulder and Weld County, Colorado, Weld List of counties in Colorado, counties, Colorado, United St ...

, and ran from November 4 to 19, 2011. The show received its Philadelphia premiere wit
New City Stage Company
December 5, 2013 to January 4, 2014. The show was a combination of the stage play and the screenplay for the film Frost/Nixon and received wide acclaim. Dan Olmstead, who portrayed Richard Nixon, received a Barrymore Award nomination, and Russ Widdall, who portrayed David Frost, received a citation from ''

Philadelphia Weekly ''Philadelphia Weekly'' (''PW'') is a website based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, a ...

'' for one of the 2014's most notable performances.

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

Feature film

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of '' The Twilight Zone''. ...

directed a 2008

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

of the play. The film was produced by Imagine Entertainment and

Working Title Films Working Title Films is a British film studio that produces motion pictures and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a division of Comcast. The company was founded by Tim Be ...

for

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

. Shooting began on August 27, 2007."Arts Briefly"
''The New York Times'', 1 May 2007 Langella and Sheen reprised their roles for the film.

References

External links

* Official sites: *
The Original Interviews Website
*
London production
* *

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070312101646/http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/reviews/article1220917.ece Paul Taylor, "''Frost/Nixon'', Donmar Warehouse, London: Closing shots convey the drama of a TV classic", ''The Independent'' (London), 22 August 2006]
Charles Spencer, "Brief but gripping encounters", ''The Telegraph'' (London), 23 August 2006

* ttp://theater2.nytimes.com/2007/04/23/theater/reviews/23fros.html Ben Brantley, "When David Faced a Wounded Goliath", ''The New York Times'', 23 April 2007 (Broadway production)br>TimeLine Theatre Company, Chicago: ''Frost/Nixon'' Study Guide
Retrieved 2011-10-02 {{DEFAULTSORT:Frost Nixon (play) 2006 plays Docudrama plays English plays British plays adapted into films Plays based on actual events Cultural depictions of Richard Nixon