POTUS

 POTUS
Shubert Theatre
May 26, 2022 

Photo courtesy of Potus

POTUS is a raucous and sidesplitting look at the behind the scenes happening at the White House.  Playwright Selina Fillinger has written an over the top script filled with funny lines, physical comedy, truthful characters, and a hilarious premise.  Director Susan Stroman works this cast of brilliant performers into a frenzy.  The action rises as the stress builds and the laughter culminates to a one line ending that says it all.

During an international meeting, the President of the United States makes a sexist and derogatory remark about his wife, Margaret (played by Vanessa Williams).  Harriet, the President’s Chief of Staff (played by Julie White), and his Press Secretary, Jean (played by Suzy Nakamura), are frantically figuring out how to spin it.  Stephanie, the President’s secretary (played by Rachel Dratch), is trying to prevent Margaret from seeing the president and making the situation worse.  Meanwhile, it is discovered that the president had an affair with a young, blond woman, Dusty (played by Julianne Hough), who is now pregnant with his child.  Harriet invited her to the White House to quiet the incident.  In addition, the President pardoned his sister, Bernadette (played by Lea Delaria), who was serving a prison sentence for international drug dealing.  When a reporter (played by Lilli Cooper), is interviewing the First Lady, she overhears and records the conversations where all this dirty laundry is aired.  Mayhem ensues, as Jean takes Margaret’s phone containing the recordings, and an accident takes place that could put all their necks on the chopping block. 

Julie White & Suzy Nakamura
Photo courtesy of Potus

The fast pace and high energy of the show is set in the opening scene between Julie White and Suzy
Nakamura.  These two skilled actors successfully light the fuse, and everything accelerates from there.  The set, designed by Beowolf Boritt, is on a turn table that quickly spins to reveal various rooms in the White House.  This allows for immediate changes, seamless transitions, and a continual build in the pace and comic timing. 

The Full Cast
Photo courtesy of Potus

The cast is phenomenal.  Julie White is full of vim and vigor.  She is a powerhouse.  Suzy Nakamura is enthralling.  Her character is constantly throwing obstacles, forcing the action to rise.  Vanessa Williams is aggressive and domineering.  Her portrayal of the First Lady is multi-layered and frighteningly truthful.  Rachel Dratch creates a character full of insecurity and very different from the others.  She makes the most out of every moment she is on stage.  Julianne Hough is perky and innocent as the President’s mistress.  She jumps right into the mix of powerful women, and rises to the challenge.  Lea Delaria is a grounding force.  Her character is full of surprises, carrying a bag of tricks on her shoulder from which she pulls out every imaginable prop needed for each sticky situation. 

As funny as this play is, it packs a thoughtful and provocative wallop at the end.  Go see it!  It is everything you could imagine from this magnificent cast. 

Domenick Danza

Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Booth Theatre

April 13, 2019

Photo courtesy of
Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Taylor Mac weaves together layers of laughter and grief mixed with hope and despair in Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus.  His writing is boldly satirical.  He moves in and out of metaphoric verse, giving the audience opportunities to ponder what lies beyond their own understanding in order to see the larger possibilities for transformation and healing.

It is the fall of the Holy Roman Empire and a street clown, Gary (played by Nathan Lane), has been promoted to maid.  His job is to clean up the dead bodies fallen from the carnage, and prepare the palace for the inauguration of the new Emperor.  The job, though overwhelming, seems simple enough, until he meets his supervisor, Janice (played by Kristine Nielsen).  She is determined to get the job done right and refuses to fall behind schedule due to Gary's trifling.  In his efforts to transform the tragedy that is all around him into comedy, Gary envisions a new genre, a “foolery,” which is comedy with a deep and serious theme.  Just as Janice is beginning to buy into Gary’s “foolery,” Carol (played by Julie White) emerges from beneath the pile of carcasses.  She was midwife to Tamora, and is obsessed with the fact that she failed to save Tamora’s baby before her throat was cut by Aaron.  Gary begins to think his idea of a “foolery” to change the future is not going to work.  When Carol locates and rescues the baby, Gary regains his confidence and begins to rethink his plan.   

Nathan Lane as Gary
Photo courtesy of Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

The true brilliance of the production is that immediately following bombastic humor, Nathan Lane and Kristine Nielsen shift the tone to sincere introspection.  Director George C. Wolfe shows a strong grasp of Mr. Mac’s writing in these transitions.  These moments are where absurdity meets truth, and we realize that our laughter is a defense against the extreme, not in acceptance of it.  

Mr. Mac brings hope for the future in the form of the baby thought to be lost.  His most prolific moments are when he pulls in the events from Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus.  I strongly recommend googling the synopsis before attending the play.  The themes will reverberate more soundly if you know these details.

Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus is playing at the Booth Theatre.  Go see it!

Domenick Danza

Airline Highway

Airline Highway

Manhattan Theatre Club

The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

April 25, 2015

Photo courtesy of Airline Highway
& Manhattan Theatre Club

Airline Highway is a remarkable piece of theatre.  Originally produced at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago this past winter, it is now presented on Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club.  The production is superbly directed by Joe Mantello, and you MUST experience it.  Each actor in this powerful ensemble serves up a skillfully flawless performance.  The play is impactful.  It pulls you into relationships with a bazaar array of characters that are linked to one another through hardship and bad luck.  The stage overflows with enticing moments, enthralling stories, and engaging conflicts.

Photo courtesy of Airline Highway
& Manhattan Theatre Club

Tanya (Julie White) is throwing a “living funeral” for Miss Ruby (Judith Roberts), and all of her extended family members living at the Hummingbird Motel on Airline Highway in New Orleans will be in attendance.  The Hummingbird is a derelict motel, and its residents are prostitutes, strippers, drug addicts, ex-cons, drunks, and other assorted vagabonds.  The conflict begins when Bait Boy (Joe Tippett), who escaped the dead end life of his once companions, returns for a last visit with Miss Ruby.  He has started a new life in Atlanta with his “sugar momma” and has returned in the company of his teen age “step daughter” Zoe (Carolyn Braver).  The intertwining of relationships and hard-edge conflict runs deep and dirty.  The New Orleans style celebration of life builds to a drunken row in Act II where everything gets ugly, raw, and real.

The script, by Lisa D’Amour, is phenomenal.  She creates an ensemble piece that truly amazes the senses and engulfs the imagination.  D’Amour provides a personal view into the background of each character through Zoe and her ongoing research for a high school sociology report.  She has been assigned to research and observe subcultures.  Throughout the play she interviews each character on how they came to live at the Hummingbird.  Her character becomes an ingenious devise through which the audience is able to begin processing the experience of the play and take in the deeper subjects and stronger moments.  By the time the report is presented at the end of the play, it has become a stunning documentation of an outsider’s insight into this subculture. 

Photo courtesy of Airline Highway & Manhattan Theatre Club

So much comes at the audience so fast, and still amazingly naturalistic, that I want to see it again, or read it, so I can analyze the themes and the messages in more detail.  The essence and value of life.  The economic divide.  The significance of subcultures in a society.  The non-stop and exhausting running when we cannot face the truth about ourselves.  These are all themes that this play explores.  They explode on the stage as the celebration escalates.  It is too much to take in at once, but let the journey begin by experiencing the perspective of this playwright and the insight of this tremendous production. 

Domenick Danza

On a personal note:  It was a great night for conversation with fellow audience members. 

Before the show I had a great conversation with the couple next to me.  They were Manhattan Theatre Club subscribers and had seen a good amount of theatre from this and last season to talk about.  He was a Pediatrician and his wife was a Consumer Report analyst (or researcher). They were originally from Texas and during intermission we discussed the various “subcultures” the play presented, how far we’ve come as a society, and how far we have yet to progress.  They were a pleasant addition to my night out. 

As I was leaving the theatre, I met another couple.  The wife was very disturbed by one line in the play.  One character talked about being “airlifted out”.  This woman was from New Orleans and took that line as a flippant reference to Hurricane Katrina survivors.  She was extremely upset.  Our conversation was short, but to the point.  I asked her what she was upset about because I felt the play treated all the characters and their lifestyles with tremendous dignity.  She agreed and told me that she felt the details in the script and production were extremely accurate. The Hummingbird Motel was based on a Motel in New Orleans.  Miss Ruby and the stripper act she performed in her hey-day was very true to style.   It was that one line that threw her emotionally.  

This play is a kaleidoscope and clearly needs to be processed and discussed.  Specific moments have different meaning for different people, and it is when you share and discuss your reactions that you will realize the richness and true impact of the text and performances.