Stage Review : As Mark Twain, Holbrook Manages to Keep His Wit About Him

The thing about wit is that it’s usually sweetest in small doses. Coming across a salty Mark Twain aphorism can be like stepping from the shade into the sunshine. But hearing three straight hours of his observations, no matter how trenchant, funny or graceful, can be numbing. The words and meanings can blur, the edge can be lost.

That’s just the challenge that has confronted Hal Holbrook for decades in his one-man portrait of one of America’s most important, and certainly most beloved, writers. Holbrook’s “Mark Twain Tonight!” at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Friday was essentially a three-hour run of sassy one-liners and wry reflections gleamed from Twain’s many humorous books, stories and essays.

There’s no disputing the material’s greatness--how do you hiss at a writer who said Darwin got evolution all wrong and that, actually, the monkey evolved from man--but how do you sustain the momentum?

This sampler runs the risk of diminishing returns: topping the last curmudgeonly line with a better curmudgeonly line can become a preoccupation. And what if the audience begins to expect, even predict, when the setup zinger is coming?

Holbrook knows how to overcome these problems. Good acting can suture the wounds of a middling play, and good acting can make wonderful writing soar. Holbrook just about climbs into his Twain persona, stretching to find an agreeable fit, and then gets down to work.

Do all actors know that it’s the tiny things that make for a charismatic performance? Holbrook does. He ambles across the stage, an old man with plenty of vinegar but careful not to waste a motion that might tucker him out. You can see the sauciness in the way he hungrily pulls on that ubiquitous cigar, and you can see a self-assurance that comes from living a long time and knowing a good many things in the way he pauses, looks around appraisingly and pats at his immaculate white suit.

Holbrook even turns Twain’s customary growl into something different. A scratchy rumble (if he’s got a frog in his throat, you know which county it came from), Holbrook uses it to punctuate the right words, draw out the salient points and signal the moment when the real laugh is coming.

Segerstrom Hall is, of course, far too big to allow the needed intimacy, but Holbrook manages to generate a reasonable feeling of coziness. He accomplishes this, in part, by bringing a dash of spontaneity to “Mark Twain Tonight!” that might not be expected from someone who has performed it more than 1,800 times.

But Holbrook says he has memorized 12 hours of Twain’s writings and, at any time, can change the loose program by adding and subtracting segments. This helps Twain’s barbed pronouncements come across as casual jawing, like he’s discussing the lay of the land with hundreds of real good friends.

One of the reasons “Mark Twain Tonight!” has been so successful is that it captures the Twain essence by offering him not merely as a joking elder statesman, but as someone who ridicules himself as much as anybody. He thrived on contradictions and irony, and we get to see them here.

At one point, he becomes pious, starchily noting that money is the root of all evil. Then he smiles, looking like a fox eyeing a chicken, and adds brightly, “And I knew I wanted all I could get!” He admits to being a pretty good dissembler: “I used to tell lies, but I’ve given it up. The field is overrun with amateurs.”

The show is packed with good lines:

“All you need to succeed in medicine is ignorance and confidence.”

“Washington is a stud farm for every jackass in the country.”

Amen. “Mark Twain Tonight!” is a nice reminder of how much intelligent fun a one-person show can be. Just the actor, his craft, a compelling character and great language. No distractions. It’s not surprising that people such as Spalding Gray have updated the form, just as it’s not surprising that Hal Holbrook continues to return to his enduring Twain.