POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE Previews — Page 5

Was in attendance Weds night and we had a terrific time.

What needs work: I think there are timing issues, LOTS of overlapping lines, sometimes making it difficult to hear everything, and their energy needs to be reigned in...its causing them to speak too fast and often stumble on their words. My biggest complaint is the stage combat....it was tentative and you could almost see them completing the steps. This should get better....but it needs rehearsal.

What is working: the direction, the characterizations, the performances, the set, the lighting. So much fun.

Enjoy the ride, y'all

Got a rush ticket this morning for tonight's show. Got there at 8:30am, and was the 2nd person in line. At 9am, the 3rd person got there. When the box office opened at 10am, there were 5 of us all together.

The gentleman at the box office was very nice, and I got center rear orchestra, row R. $39 - what a deal!

Updated On: 4/21/22 at 10:39 AM

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "The play itself is very, very funny as long as you don't think too hard about the plot/structure and some of the obvious playwriting tropes. Stroman really knows how to direct screwball comedy and I hope this isn't her last non-musical play.I doubt the play itself will getgreat reviews, but it was nice to see on Broadway.

Rachel Dratch is the MVP, but almost everyone is doing strong work here.Lisa Helmi Johanson was GREAT in the Julianne Hough part. Hopefully nobody else catches Covid now, because I can't imagine this being worth watching without Dratch, White, and Delaria. Dratch could win Featured Actress considering the competition and recency bias. Beowulf Boritt's turntable set is also impressive and expensive-looking.

The play doesn't need an intermission, and the momentum would be better if this was a one-act.

One random thing: Sometimes directors forget that height and body shape can be fun additions to comedy. This play has that! Dratch looks tiny onstage (Google says she is 5'0 which seems generous) which somehow makes her funnier, and there are a range of heights and body types here. Just a little thing worth noting that probably wasn't even intentional.

Two very mild spoilers:

I will save the worst for last:

Between this and ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, I think it's fair to say Vanessa Williams is past her prime, unfortunately. She bringsnothinginteresting here, and I would argue is the least substantial character despite getting the final bow. Maybe she will find more interesting things as the run goes on, but as of right now she's just bland."

I would hardly classify your first spoiler as a spoiler considering that what you mention was apparently recorded and is making the rounds all over YouTube and other sites. I didn’t see Anyone Can Whistle but based on POTUS, I would hardly say that Vanessa Williams is “past her prime”.

this sounds like it could have really been a homerun if they didnt try jamming under the deadline, wondering what shape it will be come Monday when I am scheduled to attend

sppunk said: "I’m torn between this and The Minutes to fill our May trip (How I Learned To Drove and Company). Any advice? I know The Minutes has to be a better play but with that lineup I’m torn on serious vs farce ..l"

I saw both The Minutes and POTUS on consecutive days this week and honestly I would recommend POTUS. The Minutes is a very ambitious show, but there are some structural issues with the writing that bothered me - the show felt slow for the first hour and then disjointed through the last thirty minutes. It has some important things to say, but the execution is uneven. POTUS isn't a "serious" show, obviously, but it was a ton of fun for me and my friend who went with me, and we thought it was both well-written and well-executed by the cast. The cast is stellar - every single person adds something unique. I would say Suzy Nakamura was the standout if I had to pick one.

We got lottery seats - row L seats 25 and 27 on the far left, which were not obstructed view - so I might recommend doing lottery or rush if you decide to see it. Rush and lottery both seem pretty easy, given that this show isn't ridiculously popular (at least not right now). It also seemed like lots of people the day I went (Monday) had gotten seats through TDF or complimentary tickets - the will call line was VERY long (longer than I'd seen at any other show I've attended). But the audience was super enthusiastic and it was a very fun time. Highly recommend!

My take (SPOILERS AHEAD):

1) I didn’t need all the foul language. Sometimes it feels like writers think dropping words like “****,” “twat” or a tirade about “ass play” is enough to make people laugh. It’s not. I needed actual comedy, and I did get it. I laughed and enjoyed the show, but I really think they could lose some of the language.

2) The set is the star. The scene changes and final scene before the end of the first act with a projectile suffragette (wonder how the Suffs feel about that!) were brilliant.

3) Rachel Dratch stole the show. Vanessa Williams was giving presidential Wilhelmina Slater, and it was perfect. Julianne Hough’s understudy was great. Julie White yelled too much for me, but I liked her overall. Lea DeLaria was decent but dropped a few lines. Suzy Nakamura was responsible for many of the expletive filled tirades and while not her fault, I found myself rolling my eyes when she was on stage because of them. Lilli Cooper continues not to impress me. Have seen her in many things now, I’m sure she’s a lovely human, and I know people enjoy her, but I don’t get it. To steal from another one of her shows and reference her “new mother” character in this one, she’s a mamma who bores me.

4) Many have said they don’t want the intermission. I like the two short acts with an intermission over one straight hour and a half. It kept everything moving, and I was never bored.

That’s just Julie White’s voice and the fact that she plays things like that is why her comedy works so much for me. To each their own!

Really lovely piece on Selina Fillinger.


NY Times Interview

Content dictates form. I'm fine if a play has a good two-act setup that needs an intermission. I'm fine if the content necessitates 4 hours and 2 intermissions! But I personally didn't feel the cliffhanger was great here. Act 2 picks up immediately where Act 1 left off. Might have benefited from the audience sputtering with laughter at the start of what's currently act 2 as they try to figure out the mess in the midst of a time-crunch. (I also never bought that POTUS was actually dead, so maybe that's part of it.)

The bigger problem than the two-act structure is that the play doesn't know how to end and feels like it has multiple false endings. When it finally does end, it's with a shrug. And then there's the awful megamix.

imho this is a badly-written/structured play with some very good jokes & performances.

It's a fairly standard trope of a farce that act one ends in a tableau with the arrival of a new problem or raised stakes, and act two starts in the same tableau--exactly where act one left off. A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum does this and "Prologus" even announces it as actors take their places. I think it's telling that we have so few well executed farces anymore that audiences have lost sense of that tradition in form. That's not to say it has to be a rule, but I think its adherence to form is one of this play's strengths.

Updated On: 4/23/22 at 06:12 PM

She went on tonight. I believe today was her last scheduled performance, according to social media. Who knows if Julianne Hough is back tomorrow.

sppunk said: "I’m torn between this and The Minutes to fill our May trip (How I Learned To Drove and Company). Any advice? I know The Minutes has to be a better play but with that lineup I’m torn on serious vs farce ..l"

Skipping The Minutes to see POTUS is a travesty, imo.