Frank Capra’s “Meet John Doe” galvanized Americans demoralized by the Great Depression to demand political action. Over the years, the powerful film has been remounted in several versions but none so striking as the production presented by Ford’s Theatre through April.
The new musical by Andrew Gerle and Eddie Sugarman marks Ford’s first world premiere in more than five years and its first collaboration with accomplished Washington director Eric Schaeffer. It stars Heidi Blickenstaff as Ann Mitchell, an ambitious newspaper reporter, and James Moye as John Willoughby, the man she hires to personify her fictitious character, John Doe.
Blickenstaff has been wowing theatergoers since the age of seven. Fresh out of Duke University, she landed a slot in the ensemble of “The Who’s Tommy” national tour. She soon graduated into covering, followed by supporting roles, then playing herself in a zany Off-Broadway hit and later to Broadway, most recently as Vicki Nichols in “The Full Monty.”
Although “carrying on a conversation from the stage with a live audience” is her first love, she also does film and television. During her run at Ford’s Theatre, she will spend Mondays in Manhattan recording the voice of a sheep in “Word World,” a new children’s show airing on PBS this coming fall.
“Ann Mitchell is a little departure for me, and I love being her,” she says. “I’ve been doing less traditional materials, so this role is an amazing archetype character. She’s strong and deliciously complex, more like women of today rather than 1931.”
Praised lavishly for her witty personality, comic timing and wide-ranging voice, Blickenstaff relishes utilizing Ann’s funny jokes and snappy rejoinders as fodder for laughs. While the serious story of average people struggling through desperate times is the primary theme, the love triangle woven into the plot provides the perfect recipe for a great musical.
‘MEET JOHN DOE’
By Andrew Garle and Eddie Sugarman
Through April29
Venue: Ford’s Theatre, 511
10th St. NW, Washington
Tickets: $25 to $52
Info: 202-347-7328,
www.fordstheatre.org
