14 years after its final episode, and 19 days before America goes to the polls, the cast and creators of The West Wing have come together for a word-for-word reenactment of the Season 3 episode “Hartsfield’s Landing.” The episode was adapted for the stage and performed at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles to benefit When We All Vote, a non-profit, nonpartisan organisation which was founded to increase voter participation in American elections.
Umapagan Ampikaipakan: This was everything I dreamed it would be. This was The West Wing reunion I’ve always wanted. It’s everyone I adore, from a show that I love, coming together and doing what they do best, in support of a good cause. They might be slightly older – and a lot greyer – but none of them have lost their spark. As soon as I heard Josh scream for Donna, I knew I was home.
Bahir Yeusuff: There was something so effortless about this gathering. These guys knew what they were doing and, as you said, it was perfect. I thought it was a lovely bit of casting to get EVERYONE back, even the reporters that had only one line. Carol, CJ’s assistant is back. Even Ed and Larry. The only word I can think of is respect. I can’t be sure, but were the Chinese delegation also the same people?
UA: Oh no, they weren’t. The original Chinese ambassador was played by the great James Hong. But he is 91.
BY: Oh well that’s a shame. But 91 years old and COVID. They made a good call. I didn’t think 2020 would ever give me something good, but it did. And this was that one good thing.
UA: You know, this is just one of a long list of cast reunions we’ve had in 2020. Some of them were Zoom calls. Some of them were script reads. But the reason this worked better than all of those was because it didn’t feel like just another lark by a bunch of celebrities who were bored of being stuck at home. The reason this was so good was because it was an actual work of theatre that was meticulously and painstakingly put together. How great was that set? I mean, how great was that set?
BY: Everything about it was perfect. The re-staging of a TV show, famed for its actual physical set of the White House, was never going to be easy. But they pulled it off. This felt like The West Wing.
President Bartlet steps off some stairs, ostensibly disembarking from Air Force One, to meet reporters after coming back from India. He gets into a “car,” which was nothing more than just a seat and a door, and in the background, you see Leo, at his desk, as they have a conversation. It was simple, but effective. Doorways leading into hallways, leading into offices. It was just absolutely beautiful.
UA: That “car” trick was something Sorkin and Schlamme use in the pilot of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip as well.
We forget that Sorkin began his life as a playwright. It’s why so much of his screen work feels so theatrical. He’s wordy. He uses dialogue as action. He gives his actors long, powerful monologues. In fact, any one of his scripts, from any one of his projects, could easily be adapted for the stage. So it’s really no surprise that this episode works as well as it does. Even without all the trappings of television.
BY: I don’t know if you felt the same way watching this, but it felt slower. More deliberate. More paced out. I haven’t seen the episode in a while (I haven’t started my yearly rewatch yet) but I was wondering if it was age, or the lack of TV editing, that made it feel more measured. This isn’t a con mind you. I loved it. It just didn’t have the zip of the TV show from 20 years ago.
UA: You’re absolutely right. Though it felt more deliberate than anything else. I say this because of all the other decisions they made in trying to make it more “theatrical.” (Like having Emily Procter narrate the At Rise Descriptions.) I think they realised that they didn’t have the benefit of TV editing and decided to frame the conversations in a slightly different way. Let me tell you, I was waiting to see how they would pull of CJ’s collapsing desk, and the comic timing was just as good as it was in the original episode.
BY: Also Dulé catches Gail! That was perfect.
UA: Gail! And it wasn’t just Gail either. The whole production was littered with little callbacks to the series. Leo’s desk had the framed “Bartlet for America” napkin that Jed gave him in Episode 9 of Season 3.
BY: I saw that and choked up immediately.
We’ve kind of skipped over the elephant in the room. John Spencer, who played Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, was an integral part of The West Wing cast. Sadly, he passed away during the filming of Season 7 back in 2005, and his role here was taken on by the brilliant Sterling K. Brown. And as much as I love Brown, I have to say that it was a little weird seeing him in the role. Not just because I’m particularly attached to Spencer’s McGarry (which I am), but because it feels like the lines were written for an elder statesman trying to reign in these young upstarts. It felt a little off when Sterling K. Brown, as Leo McGarry, had to settle CJ and Charlie’s prank battle.
UA: I think Sterling K. Brown was fantastic. But you’re right about the dynamic being completely different. Even his interactions with Bartlet felt unfamiliar. In The West Wing, Bartlet and Leo were these two old men, the best of friends, who have known each other for decades, and have been through hell together. They have always understood each other. They only ever needed the fewest of words between them.
Consider that scene in Leo’s office, when Bartlet is telling him about Toby’s persistent pestering. Their conversation is built around a series of “yeahs.” Each one carrying a different meaning and a different weight. And it played out very differently between Sheen and Spencer.
BY: I think we’re both in agreement that this isn’t a knock on Sterling K. Brown; whom we both love. It’s just different. The emotion here feels less brotherly. Again, I could be projecting, based on the years of watching those two men work together, dance together, and spar together. Here, none of that emotional baggage comes through. There’s a respect, but there isn’t the same intense love.
UA: God man, John Spencer would say “Thank you Mr. President” in every episode and have it mean something different each and every time. That said, the very last interaction between Leo and Bartlet felt like a nod between Brown and Sheen. When Jed thanks him, and Leo replies, “you too,” it felt like a thank you for doing this, and a thank you for having me.
BY: That was a beautiful moment. There’s just something about Aaron Sorkin’s words. They’re beautiful without being showy. Musical without being loud. But there’s also trust in the actor. The words only sound they way they do because he gets the right people to sing them.
UA: And not just with the episode they were staging, but also in the ad-break PSAs that he wrote for his special guests. (Featuring everyone from Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton to Elizabeth Moss and Lin Manuel Miranda.)
BY: Those were so obviously Sorkinisms.
UA: I have, over the years, become so attuned to his turns of phrase. “This isn’t a time to tune out, but to turn up.” “This is America, we’re good at this.” He has, as Rob Lowe points out in the first of these PSAs, the ability to not just entertain, but also inspire.
BY: Can I just say that those PSAs were this production’s biggest mistake. Maybe it’s from my years of doing non-political political videos in Malaysia, and trying to convince people that it was bipartisan (and in Malaysia the only way to do that was to always have a bigger representation from the side in power than the opposing side, because that’s how you show your neutrality), but I really wish that they had gotten some Republican voices. Because this really falls into the trap that The West Wing always gets accused of, which is being too liberal, too elite, and too Hollywood (read: Democrat).
UA: I kept waiting for that one Republican voice. I kept trying to guess who it might be. Maybe Jeb? He hates Trump. Or one of the McCain daughters.
BY: No way man. It needed to be someone like George W. Bush. You have Michelle Obama, you have Bill Clinton, you have to get a big Republican, to truly show that you are bipartisan.
UA: And I don’t know if it was a lack of trying. I mean, it feels like everyone in the production knows this. I just feel like it might be a reflection of just how broken the discourse has become in America. That this election is so divisive, that there isn’t any room for that bipartisan voice.
So, I have a question for you. Watching those interstitials, where they put up photos from the production, I couldn’t help but think that this would have worked really well in black and white. What do you think?
BY: Absolutely. But it wouldn’t have been necessary. It would have been an added layer of *something* that the production didn’t need. I thought those black and white interstitials were beautiful. But I’m glad they didn’t take that route. What would that have said? What would it have meant? All those questions would come up and take the audience away from the delivery of this wonderful staging.
UA: I also missed having a live audience. I wish I had that thunderous applause whenever one of them walked on stage. When Josh screams for Donna. Or when Sam walks in and hangs up his coat. Or when Charlie goes: “Can you see Toby a moment?”
BY: That is so weird. I was going to say the opposite. That I was glad there wasn’t an audience in the room. Because this way the magic is pure. It feels like these wonderful people, this wonderful production, was just for me. Seriously. I meant me, Bahir Yeusuff, and not you. This felt more intimate. More personal.
UA: You’re right. I know you’re right. I’m just channeling what I was doing while watching this episode. Clapping and whooping and hollering at the screen.
BY: Oh I’m not saying I wasn’t doing that either. I had a grin across my face the entire time. It was one of the few moments of real, true, happiness and joy that I’ve felt this year.
UA: I won’t lie, I cried when W.G. Snuffy Walden showed up on acoustic guitar and started playing The West Wing theme tune.
BY: Oh my God was that Snuffy? I didn’t know that was him! I meant to look it up! And yes, I cried too. It was such a beautiful rendition of a song that I was so familiar with, that for a split second, I didn’t recognise it.
UA: Is it on Spotify? I need it to be on Spotify.
BY: I just rewatched that scene you spoke about earlier, that final scene between Martin Sheen and Sterling K. Brown. For a split second it does sound like Martin Sheen breaks character as he says, “And thank you by the way.” And for a split second, just after Brown says his line and walks off stage, it looks like he’s thinking how lucky he is to have been able to step into John Spencer’s shoes, and say John Spencer’s lines, and to play in this sandbox. To sing Aaron Sorkin’s words, with this company (I love the fact that Bradley Whitford refers to the cast as a company) of performers. Or maybe I’m reading too much into a millisecond of a moment. Maybe that’s how good an actor Sterling K. Brown is. I don’t know anymore. I’m gonna watch it again over dinner.
UA: I’m just so blissfully happy. And deeply satisfied. Watching this was like flipping through an old photo album. It was like being at a family reunion. But just with the family members you like. It was like that feeling you have the night before the new year. When you go to bed with the excitement and anticipation of what’s to come.
BY: This perfectly describes our differing personalities. I too am happy, but in a different way. It was like going to dinner with friends. Listening to everyone talk, catching only glimpses of each conversation, but getting the whole story. This is like dinner with beloved friends that you will never see again, but for that one hour, it was perfect.
UA: Alright then, what’s next?
A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote
HBO Max
61 minutes
Director: Thomas Schlamme
Writer: Aaron Sorkin
Cast: Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, Rob Lowe, Janel Moloney, Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford, and Martin Sheen. With special guests: Michelle Obama, President Bill Clinton, Elizabeth Moss, Samuel L. Jackson, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Follow Us