On Broadway, Langella truly is 'A Man for All Seasons'

NEW YORK - Frank Langella's shift from Richard Nixon (he won a 2007 Tony for

Frost/Nixon

) to Thomas More, the man Samuel Johnson called "the person of greatest virtue these islands ever produced" is quite a demonstration of theatrical as well as moral range. Robert Bolt's 1960

A Man for All Seasons

is a play about virtue; the problem - met handsomely in this Broadway revival directed by Doug Hughes - is how to portray such a virtuous person without making him seem self-righteous, how to make us admire his decision to die rather than to compromise his conscience.

Given the current fad for Anne Boleyn and all things Henry VIII, we've heard a good deal about the king's desperation for a male heir, his divorcing of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and the consequent rupture with Rome and establishment of the Church of England.

Sir Thomas More, who was eventually canonized, was Henry's chancellor, and the only person to refuse to condone his break from the pope and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn. More was imprisoned and ultimately beheaded at the Tower of London (where Boleyn's head would join his three years later).

Despite our knowing how it will all turn out, who the good guys and the bad guys were, the play remains deeply engrossing, full of impassioned language, clever legal arguments, and some terrific acting. Whether the theological debate engages you is almost but not entirely beside the point. What

A Man for All Seasons

does show us is how crucial it is to keep church and state separate, although that certainly is not the play's overt message. There really is no conflict - despite the shrewd debates, there is never any doubt which side we're on.

The set (Santo Loquasto) is both simple and stunning, with massive wooden beams and huge candelabras evoking the world of 1529. More sweeps in, a man well-loved, witty and unpretentious despite his intellectual and political power. Langella's portrayal of a man being hounded to his death is a 2½-hour master class in acting (with special attention to the ironic glance). His More strides and stumbles, roars and elucidates, is a tender father, an exasperated but tolerant father-in-law, a steady husband. The women (Maryann Plunkett as his illiterate wife and Hannah Cabell as his learned daughter) don't make much of their roles.

Zach Grenier as his arch-enemy, Cromwell, is superb, rolling words around in his mouth as if they were marbles. From the smarmy Richard Rich (Jeremy Strong) to the pragmatist Norfolk (Michael Gill) to the rambunctious, dangerous king (Patrick Page) to the slick Spanish ambassador (Triney Sandoval), the production boasts a cast large enough to include all gradations of villainy and stupidity, and to make us feel that in such a world, Thomas More is the best of men.

Through Dec. 7 at American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42d St., New York. Tickets $66.50-$111.50. Information: 212-719-1300.