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Tony Award-winning
drama 'The Last of Mrs. Lincoln' to be performed at the Abraham
Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
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[March 23, 2007]
SPRINGFIELD -- This spring, the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library and Museum will present "The Last of Mrs.
Lincoln" for six performances in the museum's Union Theater. James
Prideaux's powerful, Tony Award-winning drama was produced on
Broadway in December 1972, starring Julie Harris as Mary Todd
Lincoln, and was subsequently taped for television.
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Impulsive, imperious and
foolish in money matters, Mary Todd Lincoln was beset by a series of
unhappy events in the years following her husband's tragic
assassination. Frustrated in her attempts to obtain a pension from
Congress and deeply grieved by the untimely death of her beloved son
Tad, she was, for a brief time, committed to a mental institution by
her sole surviving son, Robert. But, as the play so eloquently makes
clear, Mary Lincoln was also a woman of great courage and compassion
who grew in stature as she came to accept what life had dealt her.
Her ultimate reconciliation with her remaining son is a moment of
deep emotion and human understanding. Told through a sequence of
varied and theatrically brilliant scenes, the play is a true and
touching portrait of a remarkable and much-maligned woman. The
play spans the final 17 years of Mary Todd Lincoln's life, following
the assassination of her husband. The play is in conjunction with
the museum's temporary exhibit "Mary Todd Lincoln: First Lady of
Controversy," which opens April 28 and runs through Oct. 28.
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 "The Last of Mrs. Lincoln" is directed by the Phil Funkenbusch,
theater director for the presidential library and museum, and
features Pam Brown in the title role.
Performance dates:
Tickets are $10 for members of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library Foundation and $12 for general admission. For tickets, call 217-558-8934.
This event is co-sponsored by the Illinois Historic Preservation
Agency and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation.
[Text from file received from Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library and Museum]
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