Lion in Winter, The

Lion in Winter, The (1966), a play by James Goldman. [Ambassador Theatre, 92 perf.] The English king Henry II ( Robert Preston) allows Queen Eleanor ( Rosemary Harris), whom he has long imprisoned, to join the family's Christmas festivities at which he is determined to select an heir. He favors their youngest son, John ( Bruce Scott), but Eleanor favors the eldest, Richard ( James Rado), who has long been her pet. The argument that ensues is conditioned as much by the couple's ambivalent love‐hate relationship as by genuine political considerations. It is made more complex when all three sons and the young king of France ( Christopher Walken) unite against Henry and he has little choice but to forgive the children—and to send Eleanor back into imprisonment. A largely fictitious, often wittily anachronistic treatment of historical figures, the play received generally excellent notices but failed to find a public. However, it has always remained popular regionally. A 1999 Broadway revival with Laurence Fishburne and Stockard Channing met with mixed notices. The Chicago‐born James GOLDMAN (1927–98) was also the author of Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole (1961), as well as the books for the musicals A Family Affair (1962) and Follies (1971).