The screamingly hilarious POTUS is subtitled “Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive.”  This feminist farcical rant bamboozles the patriarchal pigs who rise to power.  Clearly the misogynistic buffoon numbered 45 was one inspiration for Selina Fillinger’s Broadway debut.

There are certainly whispers of other shockingly incompetent men who have occupied the White House.  Thankfully the President is a major character but not one on stage.  This comedy focuses on the women behind the scenes who keep him on track or at least from self-implosion.  All of them are presented as smarter than him.  There’s a nice underpinning theme which questions why the more intelligent lurk in the background.

The first word spoken in the play is “cunt”.   First thing in the morning the President was making a speech.  He incorrectly thought the First Lady was not in the room.  He explained her absence to the assembled dignitaries and reporters that his wife was having a “cunty morning”.  Julie White is the Chief of Staff and her day begins with crisis control.  She is knock down funny as she manages the escalating dramas of the day.

Suzy Nakamura is the beleaguered Press Secretary required to face the onslaught and spin the spin.  Vanessa Williams is the tough as nails, thick skinned First Lady.  I saw the false sincerity of Nancy Reagan, the political savvy of Barbara Bush and the unctuous fakeness of Elizabeth Dole.  Ms. Williams is fantastic in the part and avoiding her path is advisable.

Lilli Cooper winningly plays the newly divorced journalist from Time Magazine who recently had kids and is juggling career survival as a mom who must pump her breasts all day long.  Rachel Dratch is the President’s Press Secretary.  She is described as a “menopausal toddler”.  She speaks five languages and fears for her job security.  This role requires massive amounts of inane physical comedy and Ms. Dratch beautifully underplays the over-the-top hijinks.  As a result, she steals scenes left and right.  Hard to do in this crowd of skilled actresses.

As the President’s criminal, imprisoned, very butch sister, Lea Delaria shows up for a little pardon action.  She cannot predict the actions which will unfold on this particular day but she will relish in the proceedings.  And make us laugh hard.

Finally, and spectacularly, Julianne Hough arrives as an unknown “woke powderpuff” vomiting blue slushies in the bathroom.  I will not spoil the surprise and let you find out why she has shown up.  It is not a far-fetched scenario given the morals of the men who frequently inhabit the office.  Ms. Hough is insanely good as Bernadette.  I would have added her name to the Tony nominations for Ms. White and Ms. Dratch.  She’s that terrific.

The wildly uneven Director Susan Stroman shoots a bullseye here.  The audience laughed gleefully through the ever increasing madness.  Beowulf Boritt’s turntable set is joyfully unhinged as one White House room after another is revealed and re-revealed.  This play is simply great fun and the cast is excellent across the board.

The liberal leaning audience ate up the many zingers such as “trickle down economics are the worst!”  Jokes fly frequently and also hit at truths.  “The only reason we invited Bahrain is to show we give a shit about small Arab countries”.  This play is not political per se unless you believe that women are treated as equals in America.  Roe vs. Wade, anyone?

POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive is running at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway through August 14, 2022.

www.potusbway.com

Overheard at intermission:  “this may be the worst production of Shakespeare I’ve ever seen”.  Director Sam Gold can now confidently claim the crown of worst interpreter of the Bard in, at least, recent memory.  This version of Macbeth is utterly incomprehensible.

I often do not open my Playbill before a show.  In the case of Macbeth, I know the story and have seen many variations and adaptations.  Still running since 2011, the unique Sleep No More contained a killer rendition of “out damned spot” without language only movement.  This show was the polar opposite and the scene was dull.

Many directors approach these old classics and set them in various times with different settings.  I’ve seen dozens and dozens.  The Red Bull Theater’s marvelously macabre Macbeth comes to mind.  That was a riveting reinterpretation.  In order for any play to work, there has to be clear storytelling.  Broadway level requires even more.

After a needed post-theater beverage, I opened the Playbill which contained a pamphlet.  “A Note on the Production” on page one attempted to explain why there was minimal scenery, no major scene changes and actors playing multiple roles “like the theater of Shakespeare’s time”.

The middle two pages show pictures of the actors and list the roles they play.  A synopsis on the backside tells the whole story as if we are at the opera and the language is foreign.  Clearly they know the show is a confusing mess.  It is also an abomination of misguided vision at very high ticket prices.  If you know Macbeth fairly well, you will still be mystified as to what is going on.

Is there anything to recommend?  Daniel Craig is fine as Macbeth.  His performance in Othello downtown years ago was excellent.  Ruth Negga displays Lady Macbeth’s stature but with little depth of manipulation.  The Tony nomination for her is simply odd.  Both actors are overshadowed by the lack of focus in the staging and the storytelling.

Sam Gold’s King Lear a number of years ago was awful too.  Glenda Jackson was the victim then.  He did a wildly controversial The Glass Menagerie with Sally Field that many hated.  I actually like that one for its moments of risk taking excellence despite its bizarro staging.  I will think hard before seeing another show he directs.  The money will likely be better spent elsewhere.

That’s enough to say on this one.  A hard pass for all, including fans of these accomplished stars.

Macbeth is running on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre through July 10, 2022.

www.macbethbroadway.com

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Imagine a world where politicians stand up and lie to your face.  Oh, that’s not really too hard, I know.  Thunder, lightning and heavy rains set an ominous tone.  The power flicks on and off.  Imagine a place where the infrastructure is dated and faulty.  The Minutes is firmly placed in today’s America.  Playwright Tracy Letts demands that we look into the mirror.  It is beyond cracked.

The town council in Big Cherry meets weekly.  Mr. Peel (Noah Reid; Schitt’s Creek) missed the previous meeting due to his mother’s funeral.  Apparently something transpired and Mr. Carp (Ian Barford, Linda Vista) is no longer on the council.  The elected officials arrive with their socially awkward occasionally cringeworthy banter and their personal agendas.  No one will tell Mr. Peel what happened last week.

The meeting begins.  Ms. Johnson (Jessie Mueller; Beautiful, Waitress) is the clerk.  She takes attendance forgetting to leave out Mr. Carp’s name in the roll call.  The elephant is in the room but only Mr. Peel seems focused on it.  Next item on the agenda is the reading of the minutes from the previous week.  That should provide some clarity but the minutes from two weeks ago are read instead.  Why?  What is being hidden?

From this premise, Mr. Letts hilariously bludgeons an enormously wide ranging series of targets.  On a basic level, the inanity of meetings and Robert’s Rules of Order are taken to task for their ability to empower subterfuge.  Is that a motion or a comment?  You don’t have the floor.  Let’s praise how the town’s football team did last week (yes, written in the minutes).

The committee members themselves are recognizable.  There’s the octogenarian (Austin Pendleton, priceless) who is focused on the now departed councilmember’s much better parking space.  At one point he utters, “I assure you I have no idea what is happening”.  Also present is the wealthy white woman of privilege (Blair Brown; Copenhagen) who has been on the council more than thirty years.  She’s so baked in her conservative past that I suspect the term white privilege is unbeknownst to her.

Other assorted members include a potentially corrupt Sheriff (Jeff Still; To Kill a Mockingbird), a sycophantic imbecile (Cliff Chamberlain, Superior Donuts), a spastically ditzy keeper of the rules (Sally Murphy, a tad overwrought).  Two councilmen (K. Todd Freeman, Danny McCarthy) have self-dealing business before the committee.  All of this foolery is comedy meant to mercilessly mock our government (at every level).

This being America, however, the objects of Mr. Letts’ jibes are as big as the founding of our nation.  Lies perpetrated to tell a preferred story rather than the truth.  In this play – and sadly – in our society truth is a inconvenience which must be aggressively thwarted.

The dialogue contains chestnuts like “righteous indignation is a cheap perfume”.  The play cloaks itself in realism, adds in delicious dollops of farce and does not hesitate to luxuriate in mystical symbolism.  I could tell after it ended not everyone digested those missing minutes as powerfully intense as I did.

Here are things The Minutes stirred in my mind.  Book banning.  The denial of critical race theory.  Christian embracement of machine guns.  Preferred religions.  The big election lie.  Political bribery masking as campaign funds.  The dead wood of no term limits.  The founding of America.  Violence as the soul of a nation.  Violence as a soul of a species.  Just to name a few.

The ending of this play left me to consider that Mr. Letts has a darker worldview that I do.  He posits that our generational lifecycles – now firmly baked into our psyches for hundreds if not thousands of years – are inevitably marbleized or even metastasized.  I, potentially idiotically, hold out hope.  The thinker in me, however, supposes this playwright is probably right.

One more thing.  Fittingly Mr. Letts portrays the truth-hiding Mayor in this well directed (Anna D. Shapiro) production filled to the brim with accomplished actors.

The Minutes from Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre is playing on Broadway at Studio 54 through July 24, 2022.

www.theminutesbroadway.com

An early revelation drives the plot to the highly entertaining Take Me Out.  Richard Greenberg’s Tony Award winning play from 2003 has been revived on Broadway.  I did not see the original.  This version is exceptionally well-staged and well-acted even if the occasionally overwrought storyline stretches credibility.

Darren Lemming (Jesse Williams) is the star player of the Empires baseball team.  If the Empires are a stand in for the Yankees then Darren is a stand in for Derek Jeter.  That level of athletic superstar with massive fan appeal.  Coming out as gay while still playing (and at the highest level) is what Mr. Greenberg has dramatized.

No professional baseball player had outed himself when this play was written.  The events portrayed are an imagining of what would happen.  Darren’s close friend and teammate Kippy Sunderstorm (Patrick J. Adams) discuss the difficulties that this new information will cause in the locker room.  You do not have to imagine the tensions which may occur in the showers.  There is more than one beefcake scene so the audience experiences both a celebration of muscled physiques as well as naked awkwardness.

Relationships between these athletes drive the drama forward.  David’s childhood best friend, Davey Battle (Brandon J. Dirden) is a religious man who plays for a rival team.  The announcement fractures their longstanding bond.  Most of the other characters are underdeveloped jock clichés but all seem to be realistically inhabited in this world.  The team is diverse as are the languages spoken.

One exceptional character, however, is brought to the forefront when the Empires go into a slump.  Shane Mungitt (Michael Oberholtzer) is the relief pitcher who is called up to the big leagues and makes a huge impact.  Raised in an orphanage he is not the intellectual type.  In an interview he makes some racist and homophobic comments.  Repercussions ensue.

There is one additional character who is the antithesis of an athlete.  Mason Marzac (Jessie Tyler Ferguson) is a nebbish gay accountant who David hires after coming out.  He wants to get a handle on his finances and a possible early retirement.  Mason may be a stereotype but the character brings outside perspective on this idealized American pastime.  His falling in love with the sport as he works with his new client is a charming side story.

Scott Ellis confidently directed this revival.  The actors are all excellent.  Mr. Oberholtzer’s bad boy is revoltingly compelling.  So much so that he received sizable applause at the end of his final scene.  The teammate camaraderie between Mr. Williams and the play’s narrator Mr. Adams is thoroughly believable and nicely casual.  Mr. Ferguson’s Mason is eminently likable and appealing which keeps the play from tilting too dark.

Take Me Out confronts serious issues amidst the laughs.  In this particular period where harsh spotlights are shone on toxic masculinity, the timing of this revival makes sense.  While the play posited a scenario two decades ago, this version feels contemporary and still relevant.  When a production looks as handsome as this one (Scenic Designer David Rockwell), a visit to the ballpark is highly recommended.

Take Me Out is running at the Helen Hayes Theater through May 29, 2022.

www.2st.com

Skeleton Crew

The workplace is a Stamping plant in Detroit in 2008.  As you can imagine, these are tough times for American auto manufacturing.  Suppliers like this factory are dwindling fast.  In order to survive the industry implosions, many companies adjust their workforce down to a Skeleton Crew.  This excellent play dives into the world of four individuals whose livelihoods depend on these jobs.

Faye (Phylicia Rashad) is a twenty nine year veteran of the plant.  She has earned her status and is the Union representative to management.  Curmudgeonly and gruff, Faye follows the rules which suit her.  No smoking in the breakroom is not one of them.  Management has attempted to post the requisite “No Smoking” signs – even personalizing them with her name – to no avail.

Reggie (Brandon J. Dirden) is her nephew.  He has elevated himself to a suit and tie management role.  He hilariously tries to reason with Faye but the efforts are futile.  Anyone who has experienced long-time co-worker banter will recognize the dynamic at play.

Two other characters populate this play.  Shanita (Chanté Adams) is a star employee, currently pregnant but seemingly uninvolved with the baby’s father.  Dez (Joshua Boone) struggles with timeliness and wears a visible chip on his shoulder.  These four interact in this company’s breakroom on matters both trivial and life changing.

Other car suppliers are closing up shop all around and naturally there is concern about their particular plant.  Without divulging too many plot points, there are tensions.  Someone is stealing from the plant.  Shutdown rumors are flying.  This play focuses our attention on the impacts of corporate decisions on the everyday people who sweat and make the goods which produce the profits.

The heart of this play is the moral debates between doing what is right and wrong.  That those choices are complicated makes for thought provoking theater.  This may be a story about four people but the themes bring forth large scale observations.  When I hear politicians (of both parties, frankly) promise they are bringing back manufacturing jobs to America, the situation dramatized here certainly make those words feel hollow.  Government policies and the need for cheap labor drove the changes.  (Remember all the children making clothing in China anyone?)  Skeleton Crew exists to show the damage on a more personal scale.

The performances are exceptional across the board.  Adesola Osakalumi plays “the Performer”.  He represents the nameless, faceless factory workers going about their robotic tasks day after day.  Seen through the windows during scene changes, he reminds us of the daily repetition through dance and movement.  The videos of robots on the factory line are silent reminders of the evolution of manufacturing in this industry (and others).

Skeleton Crew has a number of plots and subplots along with secrets and revelations.  Much coffee is made and consumed.  Dominique Morisseau’s play beautifully captures the soul of the working class as well as the conflicts for those beginning to rise economically higher in their pursuit of the American “dream”.  Under Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s assured direction, the portraits of these characters are realistic and evoke mixed emotions.  As in life.  A great evening of theater.

Skeleton Crew is running on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre through February 20, 2022.

www.manhattantheatreclub.com

On June 3, 2017, a 25 year old Air Force intelligence specialist named Reality Winner was visited by the FBI at her home in Augusta, Georgia. They had a search warrant.  She was suspected of leaking proof of Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election.  Is This a Room is a staged play based on the verbatim transcripts of that recorded encounter.

Emily Davis portrays Reality Winner and that is her uncanny but actual name.  The performance is excellent.  Since we know she went to prison, there is not a sense of mystery in this show yet Ms. Davis almost makes us believe she knows nothing at the start.  From jitters to wet terror, we watch her as the layers unfold.  The tension is palpable.

Agent Garrick (Pete Simpson) is the main questioner.  He attempts awkward social banter to get the conversation rolling.  He is accompanied by Agent Taylor (Will Cobbs) and Unknown Male (Becca Blackwell).  Each of these men nicely inhabit the characters as spoken.  There is a bumbling governmental goofiness to their physicality which suits the words.  Unknown Male, who talks little, blurts out the show’s title in a question, “Is this a room?”  The moment is bizarre, means nothing and is never answered.

There is a great deal of tension built as the agents circle and prowl their victim.  She is not really a match for them but attempts to be elusive for a time.  The set (Parker Lutz) is intentionally minimal so this is about the dance between the hunters and the hunted.  The direction by Tina Satter keeps the language and movement swirling.

The official transcript is redacted in many places.  The show handles that through sound (Lee Kinney and Sanae Yamada) and lighting (Thomas Dunn).  That is effective as a presentation of the mystery which we are not cleared to know about.  It is also frustrating as the transcript never allows us to understand the severity of the leak.  Reality believes people have a right to know this “history.”  Why we are not allowed to know is a question that should be answered in society where the government is advertised as “for the people.”

The play clocks in at slightly more than an hour.  Is This a Room is certainly stylish and well acted.  Did it make me think about these issues in any new way or shed any new light?  Not really.

As we watch major political and governmental figures ignore subpoenas from Congress, it is perhaps important to reconnect with Ms. Winner’s story.  She is the first person imprisoned under Trump’s Espionage Act.  She leaked classified information; there is no question of that.  Are there bigger and more serious crimes out there?  The wealthy and politically connected have a lot more chance of eluding the questioners than did this young woman.  That is our America.  Let’s continue to argue about vaccines and masks while the laws remain unequally applied for all citizens.

Is This a Room is running through November 27, 2021 in repertory with another transcript inspired play, Dana H. on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre.

www.isthisaroombroadway.com

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