STAGE WEST: "3 Summers of Lincoln" at La Jolla Playhouse

Left to right: John-Andrew Morrison, (unidentified soldier), Ivan Hernandez and Carmen Cusack in "3 Summers of Lincoln." Photo by Rich Soublet II

            The first actor onstage in La Jolla Playhouse’s world-premiere musical “3 Summers of Lincoln” is Evan Ruggiero, dressed as a Union soldier with an amputated leg. He’s tap dancing. Setting the percussive tone for the opening number “Ninety Day War.” Reminding us – and we do need reminding – that the American Civil War lasted more than 1,400 days. Reminding us of the toll in maiming and death (some 620,000) that the war between fellow Americans took in the 1860s. Reminding us of the human cost of any war.
            This before we even meet Abraham Lincoln, who in this richly conceived and thought-provoking production is portrayed by Ivan Hernandez as enlightened and principled but also fallible, even misguided at times. As written by Joe DiPietro (he also co-wrote the show’s ruminative lyrics with Daniel J. Watts), this is not the iconicized, ever-forebearant Lincoln portrayed in old movies by Henry Fonda or Raymond Massey, or even the later, more nuanced Daniel Day-Lewis take on the 16th president. Wary of and conflicted about the consequences of his presidential actions at first, this Lincoln finds his courage, his resolve and his power in the second act of this sweeping musical.
            The epic “3 Summers of Lincoln” was conceived during the height of the pandemic. Its arrival in 2025 is an auspicious one and another bright achievement for the Playhouse ‘s Christopher Ashley, who is directing this production to begin this, his last year as artistic director before moving to New York’s Roundabout Theatre Company.
          This is a crucial, quintessential American history lesson enlivened for the stage by its fresh characterization of Lincoln and by Pietro’s multifaceted and bold envisioning of Mary Todd Lincoln (Carmen Cusack at the top of her game), Gen. George B. McClellan (Eric Anderson, given the juicy task of channeling Trump at his Trumpiest once the Union officer becomes a political rival of Lincoln’s) and most of all abolitionist Frederick Douglass, played with strength and great charisma at the Playhouse by Quentin Earl Darrington.
            The show’s music by Crystal Monee Hall mines multiple genres rich with the resonance of Americana and reflects the human drama and tension of the time period – there’s the anthemic tune one moment (“A Country Better Than This”), and the tender (“In Each Letter”) another. There are  moments of humor too (the soldiers’ ribald “Scarlett the Harlot”).
            Exhilarating choreography by Jon Rua and Watts is realized by a spirited ensemble, with its frequent tap dances performed with military-like precision. The production team that includes Derek McLane (scenic design), David Bengali and Hana S. Kim (projections) and Toni-Leslie James (costume design) has collaborated on a look that is both period and contemporary.
            Not that the relevance of “3 Summers” is debatable. The issues of a divided nation – in this case, literally divided –of racism and of the breadth and reach of the presidency are urgent  ones. By show’s end we can’t help but long today for not only a commander-in-chief like Lincoln but for a principled freedom fighter like Douglass who can remind him that he is a president for all people.
            It’s the duality of that relationship that defines this show, named for three consecutive summers in the Lincoln-Douglass dynamic. While each orates musically in Act One (Hernandez’s “The Impossible Position” followed by Darrington’s “Here I Am”), it’s in the trimmer, less-expository, more emotional second act that they finally meet face-to-face at the White House.
            This particular scene, in which each defies the other’s expectations and never backs down, is ingeniously staged, with both characters confiding their surprise and new respect for the other to the audience.
            Concurrent with Lincoln and Douglass coming together is the question of the Civil War itself and its purpose: to reunite the country or to end slavery for good? The answers become points of passion for not only the two giants and for Lincoln’s recalcitrant cabinet members, but for Mary, for Douglass’ own family, for Lincoln’s butler and confidante William Slade (John-Andrew Morrison), for Mary’s confidant, activist Elizabeth Keckley (Saycon Sengbloh).
            Then there’s the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln’s historic, even revolutionary declaration, and how and when (if ever) it will be issued.
            There’s so much to unpack about “3 Summers” that it could be said that the show tries to do too much, that the first-act scene-setting is strained, that a character here and there could be excised. This is the case with many if not most brand-new shows, musical or otherwise. Yet if and when some smoothing out happens, it won’t be easy. Even the seemingly smallest narrative touches add something memorable to the storytelling, whether it’s the at-the-time-unheard of use of the telegraph to communicate from Washington with the military command in the field, or Shakespeare buff Lincoln and Slade amusingly acting out a famous scene from “The Scottish Play.”
            If there’s any doubt about the Abraham Lincoln of “3 Summers” being unlike any you’ve seen or heard before, the rallying cry of the closing “A Radical Shouts ‘Now!’” should dispel it. Ivan Hernandez by this time has made Lincoln his own – a man who, as gatekeeper of the sacred democracy entrusted to him by those who founded this nation, let justice and conscience be his guide. A man who wasn’t afraid of the fight needed to keep that trust.
            Lincoln was re-elected in 1864, beating McClellan in the Electoral College 212-21.
            Now that’s a mandate.
            “3 Summers of Lincoln” runs through April 6 at La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Theatre.