Hal Holbrook’s “Mark Twain Tonight!”

I was lucky enough to see Hal Holbrook deliver his one-man show “Mark Twain Tonight!” on Saturday evening.  Holbrook’s opening night was in 1954 (the year before I was born) since which there have been over 2000 performances.   Let’s just make an understatement: he’s seriously good at this.

Though the audience was thoroughly amused, there’s so much more here than entertainment.  We were completely transported back in time, where we came face to face with some amazing insights from one of the sharpest minds and the keenest wits in the history of humankind.

Yes, the audience is transported, but perhaps the most remarkable thing about the content of the performance is how little change there has been in our perception of the incompetence and corruption in government, which, of course, was the fodder for so many of Twain’s pithy remarks during his life.

The photo above is Twain in 1907; to the right is a recent shot of Holbrook. Needless to say, the costume/make-up is just as sharp as the performance itself.

I whole-heartedly recommend that readers try to catch this show, though, obviously, you’ll have to do so fairly soon; unfortunately, this can’t continue forever.