Actor Richard Thomas is touring the U.S. with Mark Twain Tonight!, the solo show made famous by Hal Holbrook. Playbill reported that Thomas is "the first and only actor currently authorized to perform the play, written and originally performed by the legendary late actor (who won a Tony for playing Twain). In taking on the role, Thomas is expected not only to fill the formidable shoes of Twain, but also to keep Holbrook's magnum opus alive."
"This was Hal's life's work, absolutely," Thomas said. "He played Twain for more than 50 years. We had a wonderful collegial relationship, and we liked and admired each other very much, so I was thrilled when the estate reached out. It's important to keep it going, not just for Hal, but for Mark Twain as well....
"I saw Hal's 1967 PBS performance of it when I was 16, and I never forgot it. It echoes in my psyche all the time, Hal on one shoulder, and Twain on the other... and yet, when it comes time to be an actor and get out on stage and give your performance and make it your own, I can't really worry about all that. Becoming someone else like this, it's.... Well, it's certainly a challenge."
Thomas was two-thirds of the way through the national tour of To Kill a Mockingbird, based on Harper Lee's classic novel, when he first received the word from Halbrook's estate, Playbill noted.
"People know Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, but not the full panoply of Twain's genius as a satirist, humorous novelist, nonfiction writer, travel writer and performer," Thomas said. "Twain is the great mirror up to our nature, warts and all, including himself. He doesn't exempt himself from any reproach. Twain is always relevant for Americans, because he reflects all of our complexity, our contradictions, our grand aspirations, how far short we fall, how we try to make it right, how we grow and learn and evolve emotionally and socially."