Farragut North: An Electrifying Ride

Last Sunday, I went to see “Farragut North,” Beau Willimon’s riveting political thriller about the machinations of a presidential campaign during primary season.

Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows: A one night stand between press secretary Stephen (John Gallagher Jr.) and campaign intern Molly (Olivia Thirlby) leads to trouble in "Farragut North"

Fresh from his Tony-winning turn in “Spring Awakening,” John Gallagher Jr. (Stephen) ably carries the show as a young, ambitious press secretary whose secret meeting with the opposition triggers a dramatic chain of events. A paunchy Chris Noth (Paul), in a Big departure from “Sex and the City,” plays a salty-mouthed, seasoned campaign manager passionate about politics and handling the media.

Noth delivers a powerhouse performance, matched by Kate Blumberg (Ida) as a hard-bitten New York Times reporter covering the campaign and Olivia Thirlby (Molly) as an intern who gets caught in the crossfire of Stephen and Paul’s downfall. But the show belongs to Gallagher, whose fiery intensity crackles in every scene.

“Farragut North” (which refers to a neighborhood stop on the Washington, DC subway) is an honest, timely look at both the dark side and the idealism of politics -- from the sex, spin and intrigue of campaigning to that most rare campaign anomaly, an inspiring candidate who makes his supporters “starry eyed.”

Curtain Call: Kate Blumberg, Chris Noth and John Gallagher jr. take a bow

After the show, a gracious Gallagher shared with me the excitement of performing on Election Night, before an “electrifying” audience.

All Smiles: Farragut North's charming leading man and me

Of memorizing his heavy dialogue for the show, he admitted that it wasn’t until opening night that he felt like he hit his stride.

Every member of the cast, including a somewhat reserved and cranky Noth, signed autographs and posed for pictures with each of us who braved the frigid temperatures to stick around. All this and I got upgraded from second-to-last row to third row center -- talk about a great night at the theater.

“Farragut North” runs through November 29th at NYC’s Atlantic Theater Company.