Rich Little Starring in the Presidents
Comic impressionist Rich Little puts his mimicry talents to  above-xaverage use in this stage performance, in which Little portrays nine successive 20th-century American presidents, from John F. Kennedy to William Jefferson  Clinton. Cowritten by Ron Nessen, press secretary to Gerald R. Ford, the script  resonates with the intelligence of an insider and a passion for the heady,  epochal sweep that includes the civil rights, Vietnam, and Watergate years of  Oval Office triumph and tragedy. Most of the material is steeped in obviousness:  JFK's romance with Marilyn, Richard Nixon's infatuation with bugging devices, Ronald Reagan's tendency to confuse real life with the movies. But there is  stronger stuff: the subtle strain between Ford and his First Lady, the chronic  incompetence that permeated Jimmy Carter's administration, and, most  impressively, the forces that played havoc with Lyndon Johnson's support of the  Voting Rights Act of 1964. This is history lite, but well worth a look.--Tom  Keogh