The Magnificent Yankee

A great piece of Americana that is also one of the great love stories of our time, Emmet Lavery's play avoids the usual approach of historical drama, choosing to tell the story of a marriage that lasted fifty-seven years-the marriage of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and his wife, Fanny Dixwell Holmes. And by concentrating on the Washington years of the Holmeses, the play achieves an amazing perspective on the most critical years of American life. From Theodore Roosevelt in 1902 to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933, the play is a buoyant adventure of the mind and the soul. Faith in one's self, faith in one's neighbors, faith in one's country-these are the values that come through.