Rogelio Martinez

Before Twitter, Tinder and 24/7 news, two of history’s most enigmatic leaders—Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev—meet to halt the arms race. A crafty game of one-upmanship ensues, while their wives engage in a passive-aggressive tango over tea. “A fresh and funny talent” (Backstage), playwright Rogelio Martinez “finds new twists on old topics” (Variety) in this compulsively fascinating, slyly comic backstage glimpse of a 20th century landmark event. 

“Blind Date,” Rogelio Martinez’s playfully titled and altogether amusing geopolitical romp — now receiving a high-spirited Goodman Theatre premiere — might very well be described as a “Ron-com.” Ron as in Ronald Reagan, the actor, California governor and 40th President of the United States whose military and foreign policies some say helped bring the Cold War to an end (at least temporarily).

As with all blind dates, the “couple” — with Rob Riley as Reagan and William Dick as Gorbachev — arrive in a state of both apprehension and hopefulness. And their actual meeting (“truthy” as it might or might not be here, and without the presence of translators who are always essential elements in the room) is marked by all the nervous humor, misunderstandings, game-playing and awkwardness of such encounters.

The two men also arrive with their respective wives (Deanna Dunagan as Nancy Reagan and Mary Beth Fisher as Raisa Gorbachev, whose meeting over tea is one of the most irresistibly hilarious and brilliantly played scenes in To be sure, “Blind Date,” directed with great ingenuity by Robert Falls, is no documentary. But the Cuban-born Martinez, who has riffed on the Cold War era in several other plays, captures both the personalities and issues in play, including the Reagan administration’s “Strategic Defense Initiative,” which raised the hackles of the Soviet Union, a nation already suffering from the fallout of its war in Afghanistan, a flailing economy, and Gorbachev’s untested leadership.

Two more wildly different personalities than “Ron” and “Misha” could not have been put in a room together. And yet, for whatever reasons (a mutual wish for a sane approach to major differences), they managed to find some common ground. And now, seen with the power of hindsight, a sort of melancholy overlays the farcical aspects of the play simply because we know Gorbachev’s short tenure ultimately led to the arrival of Vladimir Putin, that Reagan’s legacy was laced with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and that nuclear war is no longer a matter of just two sides.

HEDDY WEISS, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES