GHOST OF JOHN MCCAIN at Soho Playhouse — Page 2

I saw it tonight. It was obviously heavily papered based on the audience reaction and the full house vs the availability yesterday. Great cast, working very hard, but it just didn’t work for me. It seemed like an overly long SNL sketch or some Second City political parody. The political figures were cartoonish. It was trying to be very broadly funny, but I didn’t really laugh at all. The only part I found amusing was “Lindsey Graham”’s song, “Good Boy.” It doesn’t help that the songs were just not funny when they tried to be, and most were serious. I started to dread each time another one started, since they slowed the movement of the story, which I’m not sure I grasped either.


All that said, it was a first preview, so things may improve.


Also, one of the producers spoke before the show and said he worked for John McCain for “basically his whole life.” I just found that interesting, and the show really glorified McCain, which I’m not sure is entirely deserved. And he also mispronounced “Kamila” a couple of times, like her opponents are doing.


To cap this off, they handled out slips of paper during the show with just a QR code on them. I scanned it after the show, and it took me to a website about QR codes all in German. 🙄

Updated On: 9/3/24 at 10:14 PM

Saw this tonight and was actually fairly pleasantly surprised. I don't think it's a great musical by any means but it's perfectly fine as a night of entertainment (especially if you've had a few drinks) and didn't overstay its welcome. I wouldn't really recommend it for those who don't want to see Trump depicted on stage for comedic/entertainment purposes (though I guess those people probably wouldn't be interested anyway).

The cast overall wears a lot of hats and handles them all quite well, anchored by a really strong Jason Tam as John McCain. There are some songs that were fairly enjoyable though I can't say I recall any of them after the fact. A good chunk of the first half of the show really skates by on shock value and the introduction of the different characters (some more random and illogical than others) which can start to feel a little overdone, but it seemed to know when to move on into the "meat" of the story before that felt overly grating.

There IS a story that feels fairly poignant and really makes the ending a lot more uplifting and almost inspirational than I would've expected. While it uses the idea of Donald Trump for comedy, his character in the show is also a person with his own internal conflicts and insecurities which I thought was kind of interesting (though depending on your feeling toward Trump, your mileage may vary in how this plays). It does give way to a somewhat defanged version of Trump in the end and of course the ending itself is neat in a way that would never translate as cleanly to the real world, but I still found it kind of satisfying.

It's hysterical that they publicly invited Meghan McCain to the show.

It's been a long time since I've been to the Soho Playhouse. Can someone refresh my memory? What's the best way to get there by subway from the Times Square area? I dimly recall getting off at a certain subway stop and making a short walk. Thanks in advance!

Saw this on Saturday. It’s basically an extended SNL sketch with a cast of Broadway all-stars and a hint of Shaw’s “Don Juan In Hell”.

There is quite a bit of shock value for sure and some is laugh out loud funny, while others are rather cringe. The music is tuneful, but again, nothing greater than what you’d find in one of the John Mulaney musical sketches on SNL.


I will say Jason Tam is giving a surprisingly earnest and poignant performance that keeps everything centered and prevents the proceedings from becoming pure chaos. Also, my friend and I couldn’t help but think that Luke Kolbe Mannikus has that mischievous twink face that reminded us of Cole Escola the whole time.

It’s good if need a diversion and you go for a rush price - but nothing more. Also, those seats are HORRIBLE - like ZERO leg room - and also look like they are about to fall apart at any moment.

Read the review roundup posted in the news section. I guess that's what makes off-Broadway shows a gamble - they're not all going to be great.

I think Jesse Green’s review is spot on, if a little too generous. I found the show mind numbing and rarely funny, and exactly the type of thing we *don’t* need during this election cycle.

Closing four weeks early

Updated On: 10/3/24 at 08:00 PM