Posted: 4/27/22 at 5:15pm
So strange these reviews are coming out now, when they're all but guaranteed to be lost in the shuffle.
Posted: 4/27/22 at 5:15pm
NYT is not a Critic's Pick, but Jesse Green seems relatively positive:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/27/theater/potus-review-broadway.html
Posted: 4/27/22 at 5:20pm
These are more positive than I expected! Sometimes critics don't like to have fun.
Posted: 4/27/22 at 5:31pm
Theatrely is mostly positive:
Farce Is Back In Fashion at POTUS — Review
https://www.theatrely.com/post/farce-is-back-in-fashion-at-potus-review
Posted: 4/27/22 at 5:32pm
Queerty is negative:
https://www.queerty.com/potus-carries-clown-car-caricatures-onto-broadway-20220427
"You can feel Fillinger’s disgust at this country’s gender inequity in the endless quantities of vomit, blood, and breast milk that soak this play. You might think you’re arriving for sharp feminist political commentary. You’re really coming for an episode of Veep put through a Saturday Night Live blender and turned into a blue slushy. It might make you happy and feel good. It might make you sick. Either way, it’s a purge."
Posted: 4/27/22 at 5:47pm
MemorableUserName said: "The Wrap is negative (the opening line: "The 21st century finally has its “Moose Murders.” )
‘POTUS’ Broadway Review: The President Can’t Be Held Responsible for This Mess
"
I could tell that crap was written by Robert Hofler. He’s a bitter, pretentious failed writer who never fails to trash any fun play. He is also extremely bitter and hateful toward young writers who he thinks have not earned their success. He probably loathed this play before the first word was spoken. It’s like he’s trying to be the new John Simon but his reviews are not as cutting as he thinks they are and he has no relevance of any kind.
Updated On: 4/27/22 at 05:47 PM
Posted: 4/27/22 at 5:51pm
NY Daily News is mostly positive:
Theater Review: In ‘POTUS,’ starring Vanessa Williams, White House wackiness morphs into feminist rebellion
https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/broadway/ny-broadway-review-potus-julie-white-vanessa-williams-20220427-qgt5o7mkszc2bnbav4g4nqxo34-story.html
Posted: 4/27/22 at 5:53pm
Delighted by the mostly great reviews. I thought this was a total blast. Easy-breezy and super funny. Glad it’s on Broadway.
Posted: 4/27/22 at 5:56pm
It seems like Julianne has been trying to find her "thing" outside of dance for years now. Wonder if this is it. Also interesting to me that Feldman says this is the best he's seen Vanessa Williams on stage. I know some people felt the opposite.
Updated On: 4/27/22 at 05:56 PM
Posted: 4/27/22 at 6:17pm
I was expecting the play itself to get trashed based on what I’ve heard, but the cast to get mostly positive reviews for trying their damndest to make this dumpster fire work.
But what do I know…
Posted: 4/27/22 at 6:20pm
EDSOSLO858 said: "I was expecting the play itself to get trashed based on what I’ve heard, but the cast to get mostly positive reviews for trying their damndest to make this dumpster fire work.
But what do I know…"
Does “based on what you’ve heard” mean you haven’t even seen it? If so, maybe refrain from calling it a dumpster fire until you can judge from r yourself.
Posted: 4/27/22 at 6:29pm
2 1/2 stars from Oleksinski at the NYP:
‘POTUS’ Broadway review: Amped-up White House farce is too wild
https://nypost.com/2022/04/27/potus-broadway-review-amped-up-white-house-farce-is-too-wild/
"What will appeal to some of about Fillinger’s play — but what also holds it back — is that it’s cranked up 11 from the second the lights go up. The best farces, as well as sit-coms, start with some serene normalcy before everything goes haywire. How can we perceive this world falling apart, and laugh uncontrollably, if we never see it put-together? The non-stop high energy desensitizes by Act 2. The ending, by the way, seems like it’s trying to channel the revenge antics of “9 to 5,” however it doesn’t stick the landing.
At just two 45-minute acts, though, it’s a fun night out. “POTUS” would just go down a lot smoother with one of Dusty’s 80-proof slushies."
Posted: 4/27/22 at 6:31pm
3 stars out of 5 from NY Stage Review:
POTUS: Foul-Mouthed Women on Comedy Rampage
https://nystagereview.com/2022/04/27/potus-foul-mouthed-women-on-comedy-rampage/
"Watching POTUS, however, I must report—many will agree with me— that the comedy is just about the funniest to split sides on Broadway this comedy-short season or, let’s be even more enthusiastic, any number of seasons past. At least that can be said of the 45-minute-or-so first act. The second act is a story for a much later couple of paragraphs."
Posted: 4/27/22 at 6:34pm
"The 21st century finally has its “Moose Murders.”
Dag, man. It's just a fun show.
Posted: 4/27/22 at 7:19pm
MemorableUserName said: "The Wrap is negative (the opening line: "The 21st century finally has its “Moose Murders.” )"
Given Moose Murders is famous for closing the night it opened...clearly, it is not, as it did not close today. If a writer is going to try to make a comparison, at least make it a good one. Lazy writing.
Posted: 4/27/22 at 9:09pm
ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Jesse Green/NYT is largely positive, though not a rave or Critics Pick:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/27/theater/potus-review-broadway.html"
"... farce is built on tropes of domination and violence."
That's an interesting take on farce, I wish Mr. Green would have cared to explain it.
Posted: 4/27/22 at 9:56pm
DTLI Consensus: We give this President’s staff an approval rating of 50%.
6 positive, 5 mixed (including the NYT), 1 negative.
https://didtheylikeit.com/shows/potus-or-behind-every-great-dumbass-are-seven-women-trying-to-keep-him-alive/
Posted: 4/27/22 at 10:06pm
Sutton Ross said: ""The 21st century finally has its “Moose Murders.”
Dag, man. It's just a fun show."
This would have been the appropriate thread to say “malarkey” if you disagreed with a critic.
Posted: 4/27/22 at 11:22pm
Helen Shaw in Vulture is mostly positive (and makes the same comment about farce depending on timing and how the cast needed a bit more rehearsal some here have made):
https://www.vulture.com/2022/04/theater-reviews-potus-and-mr-saturday-night.html
"Fillinger’s whizbang comedy is not perfect. Its characterization slews crazily around; its grip on gross-out humor is a little loose. (I am too dignified for details, but do not Google “abscess” following your time at the Shubert.) Still, POTUS makes its many effective jokes with its jaw cocked. Every now and then a woman will marvel at another woman’s brilliance and ask, “So why isn’t she president?” Darn tootin’. The best way to make such a point land, is, of course, to demonstrate womanly competence. So Fillinger, her killer cast, and director Susan Stroman go hard in scene after scene. If you laugh, they win — and they really want to win."
Posted: 4/28/22 at 12:25am
This would have been the appropriate thread to say “malarkey” if you disagreed with a critic."
Uh, you clearly haven't seen this show if you think it's about Joey Robinette. Perhaps seeing a show and then commenting on specifics is a better move?
Posted: 4/28/22 at 9:32pm
Variety is positive:
‘POTUS’ Review: A Rollicking New Broadway Farce About the Women Behind the Idiot in the White House
https://variety.com/2022/legit/reviews/potus-review-play-broadway-1235253436/
"I am woman, hear me roar — with laughter, at “POTUS: or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” playwright Selina Fillinger’s delicious feminist farce about the all-female staff that keeps the country out of war and other sticky situations while babysitting the dullard who holds the highest office in our beleaguered land. Playing characters largely unknown to the public within the world of the play are actors Lilli Cooper, Lea DeLaria, Rachel Dratch, Julianne Hough, Suzy Nakamura, Julie White and Vanessa Williams. Director Susan Stroman’s ensemble is a bona-fide dream team."
Posted: 4/28/22 at 9:34pm
Hollywood Reporter is positive on the cast and first half, more mixed on the second act:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/arts/rachel-dratch-julianne-hough-and-vanessa-williams-potus-theater-review-1235136833/
