Teddy Roosevelt Show comes to Polson and Ronan

By all accounts, Joe Wiegand bears an uncanny resemblance to President Theodore Roosevelt. Wiegand, an acclaimed impersonator, evokes the 26th president of the United States, in The Teddy Roosevelt Show, which he’ll perform in Ronan and Polson today and tomorrow.

In 2008, Wiegand and his family traveled across America in celebration of Roosevelt’s 150th birthday and the final centennial year of TR’s historic presidency (he served from 1901-1909). Performances at the White House and Roosevelt’s New York City birthplace highlighted the 50-state adventure.

Wiegand has since been featured as President Roosevelt in “The Men Who Built America” on the History Channel, served as the model for the newest TR sculpture at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and has a feature role in “National Parks Adventure,” a film that’s still showing in IMAX theaters throughout the country.

Today, the Wiegands live in Medora, North Dakota, where Joe works for the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation.

A scholar and showman, Wiegand’s performances are uniquely crafted for each audience, and are said to live up to Alice Roosevelt Longworth’s observation: “Father wanted to be the bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral, and the baby at every Christening.”

He performs The Teddy Roosevelt Show at 3 p.m. March 6 at the Miracle of America Museum in Polson and again at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Ronan Library and at 1 p.m. March 7 at the North Lake County Public Library in Polson.

This Humanities Montana program is free, but space is limited; tickets are available at the venues. Visit teddyrooseveltshow.com or call Mission Valley Live at 406-471-5849.