“The
West Wing It Ain’t but It's a Lot Funnier”
The spirited, very funny CLINTON: THE MUSICAL returns
us to the naughty (and, in the modern way) gay 90s when the raunchy Democrat in
the White House had not yet ceded power to the ranchy Republican who took us
into Iraq following the nightmare of 9/11. Perhaps one day, when the darkness
fades, it’ll be possible to conceive of a musical spoof of the Bush years,
when, at least until 2006, we were able to escape from its horrors into the
fantasy of a noble Democratic presidency via TV’s “The West Wing.” Now, 15 years after the Clinton era ended, we’re
able (thanks to time, the great healer) to look back and laugh through the
prism of parody at those fin de siècle traumas; this is especially so since the
main players in that 90s White House are still very much with us, with one of
them announcing just this week that she’s running for the office her hubby
clung to despite all that could be done to remove him.
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| Cast of CLINTON: THE MUSICAL, with, on platform, from left: Duke Lafoon, Tom Galantich, Kerry Butler. Photo: Russ Rowland. |
There’s a lot here on which to exercise your zygomatic
muscles when you compress into 92 raucous and often off-color intermissionless minutes
a presidency marked (marred?) by Hillary Clinton’s failed health care plan, the
Paula Jones accusations of sexual mischief, the so-called Whitewater scandal,
the actual Monica Lewinsky scandal, the charges (still churning) of witchcraft
aimed at the First Lady, Bill’s budget balancing efforts (with Hillary’s help),
Newt Gingrich’s government shutdown, Clinton’s impeachment, Ken Starr’s
prosecutorial antics, the 1996 campaign, the constant media frenzy, and the rest
of the wild Washington shenanigans in the environs of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
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| Center, John Treacy Egan; behind him, left: Veronica J. Kuehn; right: Kara Guy; rear: from left: Dale Hensley, Judy Gold, Kevin Zak. Photo: Russ Rowland. |
Smartly staged and choreographed by Dan Knechtges, and
written by two Australians, Paul Hodge and Michael Hodge, CLINTON sets us smack down in designer Beowulf
Boritt’s just-cartoonish enough Oval Office (nicely lit by Paul Miller), the
side walls decorated with portraits of presidents and their presidential
squeezes. A portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt can turn translucent so we can see
Eleanor (Judy Gold) herself behind it offering advice (“A woman is like a teabag”
that gets stronger when steeped in hot water) to Hillary, her spiritual mentee.
Those above can open to reveal various characters who pop their heads through
them, including Hillary, who shows up to welcome us to “her first presidency.”
The central portion of the set revolves to show other locales, like the sub-sub
basement where Gingrich and Starr machinate against the president.
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| Duke Lafoon, Veronica J. Kuehn. Photo: Russ Rowland. |
The hilariously vibrant Kerry Butler plays Hillary,
her blond hair set off by the First Lady’s familiar blue pants suit, while two
actors play 42’s battling selves, the silver-haired Tom Galantich as the
idealistic, earnest pol, WJ, and the dark-haired Duke Lafoon as the
louche, weed-toking, sax-wailing, Arkansas-accented Billy. The imaginative
premise shows the two sides of Clinton’s personality struggling for supremacy
and Hillary’s favor.
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| From left: Kevin Zak, John Treacy Egan, Tom Galantich, Kerry Butler, Kara Guy (behind Ms. Butler), Veronica J. Kuehn, Dale Hensley. Photo: Russ Rowland. |
Supporting them is a sensational ensemble of
singer-dancer-actors playing multiple roles, highlighted by the towering, droll
Judy Gold as Eleanor and, most memorably, Monica’s loudmouth friend and
betrayer, Linda Tripp; the overstuffed, light-on-his-feet John Treacy Egan as the
junk food-wolfing, dimwittedly nasty Speaker of the House and arch-Clinton
adversary, Newt Gingrich, his head topped like whipped cream by a glaring white
wig, who gleefully sings “Nay” to every Clinton idea; Kevin Zak as special prosecutor Kenneth
Starr, a ghoulish creep with an upswept pompadour resembling a soft ice cream
swirl, who strips off his clothing (while singing “A Starr Is Born”) to expose
a toned body dressed in scanty S/M gear; and Veronica J. Kuehn as the
sex-addled, beret-topped White House intern, Monica, who warbles the genteel “I
Can’t Fucking Believe I’m Fucking the President” while cavorting around his
desk, and tossing off lyrics like, “I feel like we just click when I’m sucking
on his . . . thing.”
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| Judy Gold, Veronica J. Kuehn. Photo: Russ Rowland. |
As this suggests, CLINTON: THE MUSICAL sometimes gets
down and dirty, but the dirt is clean enough to remain within the boundaries of
acceptable bad taste (how else do you do a show about a commander in chief who shot off his bazooka in an oval orifice?).
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| Front: Kerry Butler; rear: Tom Galantich (left), Duke Lafoon. Photo: Russ Rowland. |
Also, you may
remember a pack of Republican stiffs named Lott, Helms, Boehner, Hutchison,
Dole, DeLay, Gramm, and Hyde; they’re here, too, but in the form of cardboard
cutouts, all in black and white except one with a face notable for its Man-Tan
veneer. Also standing by in cardboard stiffness is VP Al Gore. Socks, the Clinton
cat, appears as a sock puppet, but little Chelsea passes by inconspicuously in
the dialogue. Costume designer David C. Woolard does a bang-up job costuming
everyone—cutouts excepted—in satirically amusing but not too overdone 90s' getups.
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| Front: Duke Lafoon; rear: Tom Galantich. Photo: Russ Rowland. |
Catchy tunes, sprightly dancing, on-the-spot
caricatures, and ribald humor combine to make this a welcome contribution to a
mainly somber season. I’ve smiled a lot but haven’t seen too many shows this
year that made me actually laugh (I can be a real sourpuss) so the fact that
CLINTON: THE MUSICAL—revised after first being seen at the Edinburgh Festival
Fringe and then being shown last year at the New York Musical Theatre—had me chuckling regularly is a sign that not only is this show funnier
than most, but—when looked back upon through the fog of war—the Clinton
epoch was funner than other presidencies. I can’t help but wonder if the imminent office holder's tenure (WHOEVER THAT MAY BE!) will prove equally as
uproarious a couple of decades from now.
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| From left: Kara Guy, Duke Lafoon; Dale Hensley (on floor); Tom Galantich, Kerry Butler, Veronica J. Kuehn. Photo: Russ Rowland. |
