SOLANA BEACH, California — North Coast Repertory Theatre has resurrected Eleanor Roosevelt from the dead. In the West Coast premiere of Eleanor, actor Kandis Chappell is a one-woman tour de force. Director David Ellenstein has done an amazing job with this impressive show. From the 85-minute visit with the former First Lady, we are treated to the intimate struggles, heartbreak, and achievements of this iconic woman.
The show is set in the present day, in Rock Creek Park Cemetery in Washington, D.C. While the entire show is related from Eleanor’s perspective, one can almost see FDR as she converses with him. The artistic design team, Aaron Rumley, Matt Novotny, and Marty Burnett’s collaborative efforts provide such a clever way to bring other characters to the stage. Projected photos provide background and context for Eleanor’s anecdotes and actions.
Chappell’s emotions run the entire gamut of the human experience. She is funny, witty, devastated, lonely, brave, and committed. The actor’s timing, voice and entire bearing recall her character, and while Chappell is significantly more feminine than Mrs. Roosevelt, one nearly does a double take.
The show reveals personal and public facets of Eleanor’s life: her indignation at the discovery of FDR’s philandering, her personal investment in aiding humanity by championing women’s rights, and her compassion for the Jews fleeing Nazi Germany and seeking asylum on American shores. She spoke out against the injustices and quotas that held people back or sentenced them to their subsequent, inevitable doom. Though she did not always succeed in swaying FDR’s mind, it wasn’t for a lack of trying.
I learned quite a bit about Eleanor’s genealogy, as well as her inability to receive the affection and attention she craved. Playwright Mark St. Germain provides a rich story, filled with factual events and humor, frustration and courage. This well-known writer also brought us Freud’s Last Session transformed to a film being released by Sony Entertainment in early 2024. He has won the Outer Critics Circle Award and was named Time Magazine’s “Year’s Ten Best.”
Chappell is no stranger to North Coast Rep, having starred in King O’The Moon, The Lion in Winter, and The Illusion. She has been in over 30 productions at the Old Globe, and has performed extensively at South Coast Rep. In New York, Chappell has appeared at Lincoln Center and on Broadway, and theatres everywhere in between.
Eva Trieger is a freelance writer specializing in the arts. She may be contacted via eva.trieger@sdjewishworld.com
I would love love to see this. The staging- using stock photos as a backdrop of the Roosevelt circle surrounding Eleanor and having Eleanor conversing with them is an exciting idea and probably plays even better than if there were live actors playing FDR’s close advisors like Harry Hopkins or Harriman or Clark Clifford and of course her close female companions which is the other half of that history. It sounds perfect.
Thanks Mr. Frankel!
I’m sure you’d enjoy this production immensely! Thanks for reading and commenting!