Every time I visit Disneyland, I make a point of seeing the 1964 World’s Fair audio-animatronic artifact Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln, and would say the same about the Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents if it weren’t currently closed. So the voice of Royal Dano reciting the Gettysburg Address was echoing in my head as I entered The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln, perhaps setting unfair expectations for historical performer Tom Leahy’s one-man evocation of the Great Emancipator. With his carefully clipped beard, stovepipe hat and eyes full of sadness, he visually embodies the “perceived image of Abraham Lincoln within the memory of mankind”; the only things he’s missing are an Illinois accent and several inches of height.
Lincoln advocated for Democratic Republicanism long before those ideologies became estranged opposites, and Lincoln’s spirit of reconciliation and justice is needed more now than ever, although you may wonder if things might be different today if he’d shown a little more malice toward some. Leahy’s hourlong history lesson — largely made up of Lincoln’s own immortal words — covers nearly every milestone in the man’s momentous life, from his hardscrabble upbringing and early electoral failures to the aftermath of the Civil War. At times it gets into the political weeds of party endorsements and dry recitations of dates, but he also explores Lincoln’s emotional life — both amusingly human anecdotes about courting Mary Todd, and the deep melancholy (which modern psychiatrists would probably call clinical depression) that Lincoln and his spouse suffered following the death of their son.
This show would be perfect for touring at public schools, but unless he adds an R-rated ending involving John Wilkes Booth, I fear Leahy’s delivery may be too low-key to attract attention at the Fringe, no matter how important his words are. Leahy spent an unfortunate amount of his press preview with his head buried in the lectern, reading off his script; if he can learn to lift his eyes off the page and emotionally connect with his audience, he could be a far more powerful proponent for Lincoln’s legacy than any corporate-owned robot.
The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln
Scarlet Venue, Orlando Family Stage
40 minutes; 13 & up
$10
Get tickets
Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Bluesky | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
This article appears in May 14-20, 2025.