An Evening with Richard Nixon and . . Gore Vidal’s new play, is neither so scurrilous as Mr. Nixon’s supporters might have expected, nor so devastating as Mr. Vidal’s friends might have hoped. It is also not terribly entertaining.
The format is that of a television show, sort of a cross between Firing Line and This Is Your Life. There are two commentators, labeled Pro and Con, the only major characters who are not given the names of real people. This may have something to do with the fact that Mr. Vidal is currently engaged in a lawsuit with William F. Buckley Jr., whose mannerisms the actor playing Pro has caught better than most professional mimics. (Mr. Vidal has hinted in a newspaper interview that Con represents himself, although Con neither looks nor sounds like him.)
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