The True, by Sharr White, directed by Scott Elliott for The New Group, through October 28, 2018 at The Pershing Square Signature Center in New York.
The True is a political drama — but it’s really about relationships, and that’s what lifts it to must-see status. That, plus tour de force performances by Edie Falco and Michael McKean.
The story revolves around the chief strategist of a political machine in Albany, New York up to 1983, but the protagonists could be in any other occupation.
It so happens that one of my sons works for a Pennsylvania state representative, and I am a politics junky. But even if you’re not involved in that field, you’ll find yourself caught up in the jealousies and the intrigues among longtime friends and co-workers.
Falco (best known for The Sopranos and Nurse Jackie) plays a dynamic woman named Polly Noonan who was chief of staff for the political boss who ruled Albany for decades. Now the boss has died. Various politicians seize the opportunity to increase their fortunes. Slowly, gradually, we learn of complicated personal relationships.
Strong supporting players are the dependable Peter Scolari as Polly’s husband Peter, and a self-effacing Michael McKean as the longtime mayor who basically was a stooge of the departed boss. Glenn Fitzgerald is effective as an up-and-coming state senator who challenges the old guard. Austin Caulwell is a bumbling newcomer who thinks he wants to “try” politics for awhile. John Pankow is pugnacious as a sleazy Charlie Ryan.
But this is not a stereotypical tale of young blood replacing the old and stale. The drama reminds us that venerable political machines were not necessarily corrupt, and ward leaders really were committed to knowing their constituents and trying to fill their needs.
Falco’s character explains: “Regular people, they don’t give a shit what you do behind closed doors so long as their lives are working. That ward three mother? When we were all doing our job, we knew what she was having for dinner. You know why? Because we were eating it with her.”
The title of the play has a twist. Not everything these people say is truthful. But most of them try to be true to their mission, as they see it.
The solid single set by Derek McLane is the Noonans’ old-fashioned living room.
Most of the audience probably didn’t know that this is a true story. The real Polly Noonan, who died in 2003 at 88, was the grandmother of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Don Arnold, a close friend, said “She was a beautiful person who was generous and helped out the poor and downtrodden. Sure, she had flaws like anyone else, but she was intelligent and complex.”