Ford's Theater: Mr. Lincoln

 "Mr. Lincoln" by Herbert Mitgang is a one man show in which the Actor, using a majority of Abraham Lincoln's own words, tells the story of his life.  It's a beautifully conceptualized play whose content (the words of Abraham Lincoln himself) resounds with profound truths for our present day political milieu.  We learn of his days in Illinois as a lawyer and young politician, his courtship and love for Mary Todd, the births and tragic deaths of most of his sons.  The campaign for the presidency, the war, his rocky relationships with his generals, his compassion for troops that deserted...the emancipation of enslaved Africans, right up to premonitions of his death just days before his assassination.  

At 69, Scott Bakula was born to play Lincoln.  From the first words to the final applause, he projected America's tragic "Everyman" President with wit, and pathos, and compassion.  I could not stop my eyes from leaking at his recitation of The Gettysburg Address.  After the standing ovation faded at the end of the performance, Bakula turned to look up upon the very theatre box in which Lincoln was shot, clasped his hands and bowed his head in a moment of silence.  An amazing homage to a brilliant performance.  This is one that I will always cherish.

Speaking of his youth and the first time he understood what it meant that Black Africans were enslaved

Reading a letter from the contemporary journalist Horace Greeley criticizing his presidency--we also hear his witty, acid sharp response

Recreating Lincoln's recitation of the Gettysburg Address

At the end with the actual theater box where Lincoln was shot upper right.  Throughout there was a palpable sense that Lincoln's ghost was hovering, inspiring the performance.  The only kind of magic I believe in, theatre magic!