POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Written bySelina Fillinger
Date premieredApril 14, 2022
Place premieredShubert Theatre, New York City
Original languageEnglish
GenreSatire
SettingWhite House

POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive[1] is a play by Selina Fillinger that opened on Broadway on April 27, 2022 at the Shubert Theatre. The original Broadway production was directed by Susan Stroman and starred Lilli Cooper (Chris), Lea DeLaria (Bernadette), Rachel Dratch (Stephanie), Julianne Hough (Dusty), Suzy Nakamura (Jean), Julie White (Harriet), and Vanessa Williams (Margaret).[2][3]

Plot summary

The show centers around a PR nightmare for the White House while seven women try to keep the President out of trouble.[4]

Cast

Role Broadway, 2022
Chris Lilli Cooper
Bernadette Lea DeLaria
Stephanie Rachel Dratch
Dusty Julianne Hough
Jean Suzy Nakamura
Harriet Julie White
Margaret Vanessa Williams

Reception

Jesse Green, chief theatre critic for The New York Times, gave the production a mixed review, stating, "As a farce, 'POTUS' still plays by old and almost definitionally male rules; farce is built on tropes of domination and violence. On the other hand, and more happily, 'POTUS' lets us experience the double-bind of exceptional women unmediated by the men who depend on their complicity."[5]

The Washington Post theatre critic Peter Marks compared the show favorably to that of a mix between Saturday Night Live and Veep. He also praised its cast and in particular its director Susan Stroman for orchestrating the chaos on stage, writing, "Veteran director Susan Stroman is a choreographer by training. She has the mechanics of farce down pat, a knowledge base that ensures this team at all times has clockwork timing in its arsenal."[6]

The ensemble cast received acclaim for their comedic roles. Variety critic Marilyn Stasio praised DeLaria as "priceless" and "vivid enough to be memorable".[7] Maureen Lee Lenker of Entertainment Weekly said, "Julianne Hough is particularly mesmerizing...[she] could easily be a mere stereotype, but she surprises at every turn."[8] Deadline Hollywood praised White's performance describing her as "one of the stage’s great comic actors" and that she "uses her knife-sharp bark of a voice as a sort of aural embodiment of the chaos on stage".[9]

In the New York Post's mixed review, its critic Johnny Oleksinski heaped praise on Rachel Dratch's performance, writing, "The genius Dratch is a riot as a nervous, introverted employee who practices power stances and can’t get a word in edgewise. Then she accidentally downs a bunch of hallucinogenic pills she thought were Tums and goes completely loco. The 'SNL' alum running wide-eyed around the theater wearing an inner-tube is the best part of the play."[10]

Accolades

Julie White and Rachel Dratch both received Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play nominations for their performances.

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

Year Award Category Nominee Result
2022 Drama League Award[11] Outstanding Production of a Play Nominated
Distinguished Performance Award Rachel Dratch Nominated
Julie White Nominated
2022 Tony Awards[12] Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role Rachel Dratch Nominated
Julie White Nominated
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Beowulf Boritt Nominated

References

  1. ↑ Meet the Cast of POTUS on Broadway
  2. ↑ Evans, Greg (March 1, 2022). "New Broadway Comedy 'POTUS' To Star Rachel Dratch, Lilli Cooper, Julie White, Lea DeLaria, Julianne Hough, Suzy Nakamura & Vanessa Williams". Deadline. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  3. ↑ Evans, Greg (March 24, 2022). "Broadway's POTUS Comedy Moves Opening Date For Tony Eligibility". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation.
  4. ↑ Culwell-Block, Logan (March 1, 2022). "Vanessa Williams, Rachel Dratch, Lilli Cooper, More to Star in POTUS On Broadway". Playbill. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  5. ↑ Green, Jesse (April 27, 2022). "Review: In a Gleeful 'POTUS,' White House Enablers Gone Wild". The New York Times. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  6. ↑ Marks, Peter (April 29, 2022). "A bountiful Broadway season ends with laughs, thanks to 'POTUS'". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  7. ↑ Stasio, Marilyn (April 28, 2022). "'POTUS' Review: A Rollicking New Broadway Farce About the Women Behind the Idiot in the White House". Variety. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  8. ↑ Lenker, Maureen Lee (May 2, 2022). "POTUS on Broadway is a foulmouthed political funhouse farce". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  9. ↑ Evans, Greg (April 27, 2022). "'POTUS' Broadway Review: Julie White, Rachel Dratch, Julianne Hough & All-Star Cast Corral Chaos In New Political Farce". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  10. ↑ Oleksinski, Johnny (April 27, 2022). "'POTUS' Broadway review: Amped-up White House farce is too wild". The New York Post. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  11. ↑ "2022 Drama League Awards Nominations Announced- Full List!". BroadwayWorld. April 25, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  12. ↑ Tony Award Nominations 2022
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