It doesn't sound very dramatic, the backstage story of a series of 1977 TV interviews. But the central figure is the controversial Richard Nixon, then in one of his final attempts at rehabilitation. And as written by Peter Morgan (screenwriter of "The Queen" and "The Last King of Scotland") and starring Frank Langella in a Tony-winning performance, "Frost/Nixon" had a critical success in both London (2006) and New York (2007).

Now it's a feature film, just about to go into release, directed by Ron Howard, no less, with Langella and England's Michael Sheen reprising their stage roles as Nixon and interviewer David Frost.

But in this moment between Broadway and the big screen, "Frost/Nixon" arrives tonight for a week on stage at the Benedum as part of the PNC Broadway series. The juicy role of Nixon is played by Stacy Keach, well known here from tours and the CLO, with Alan Cox as his antagonist.

They're supported by eight other actors. That and a wall of TV screens used for close-ups give some promise that the production will be big enough for the Benedum. That's the opinion of Seth Sklar-Heyn, who was the assistant to Michael Grandage, director of the London and New York productions, and who re-created Grandage's staging for the tour.

By phone from London, Sklar-Heyn, an articulate American in his late 20s, declared that on the tour that began in October "Frost/Nixon" already has shown its stage-worthiness in theaters the size of the Benedum.

"It's such a presentational piece," he points out, citing the use of narrators, which brings the audience into it, and the intimacy of the video close-ups. The actors perform without body mics, although there are stage mics to provide discreet amplification.

Sklar-Heyn says the play is growing as it tours and the actors play before different audiences and come to know it better. Basically it's "about two people, whether they're real or not -- characterizations, not caricatures." The two actors "create their own identities," rather than relying on mimicry.

Langella wasn't available for the tour. To match Keach, they sought a Brit working in America. Then Sklar-Heyn remounted the original New York direction before Grandage came in for a touch-up.

Morgan's script is to some extent conjectural, of course. Sklar-Heyn points out that every participant in the 1977 TV production has different views of what happened, including the viewers.

He thinks "Frost/Nixon" has gained contemporary relevance in recent debates about the role of the media in framing political discourse. "Sarah Palin's not wanting to be filtered by the media is almost verbatim what Nixon complained about," he says.

The interviews themselves aren't as interesting as what the play shows happening backstage, in preparation and in between sessions. Sklar-Heyn likens the show's appeal to that of "The West Wing" -- "reinvention, reinterpretation, the same thriller flavor."