Clinton review – this musical should be impeached

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/jul/23/clinton-review-musical-should-be-impeached

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Bill Clinton did not inhale. But the 42nd American president might want to take a very deep breath before encountering Clinton, an unelectable tuner now appearing at the New York musical theatre festival.

Written by Australian siblings Paul and Michael Hodge, the show asks two actors to portray the president simultaneously. Karl Kenzler plays WJ, a wonkish superego; Duke Lafoon (who rivals the Broadway stalwart Norbert Leo Butz for unlikeliest stage name) is Billy, his frat boy id. WJ is in thrall to harpy Hillary (Alet Taylor), while Billy is serviced by the ditzy Monica (Natalie Gallo). Both are menaced by special prosecutor Kenneth Starr (Kevin Zak), who strips down to sock garters and sadomasochistic regalia. The vision of his mesh underwear-clad rump can never be unseen. Chelsea never appears, which suggests either a sense of decency or a lack of imagination.

Though Clinton enjoyed an eventful presidency, the Hodge brothers haven't bothered to fashion a plot from it. Instead, they set the highlights and lowlights of his two terms – seemingly cribbed from a Wikipedia entry – to a passable pop-rock score. You keep waiting for some kind of climax, libidinal or otherwise. Then you wait some more.

"I need a plan," Billy insists.

"You really do," says WJ.

The two Clintons never face off against each other; a single song resolves their conflict with Hillary. Meanwhile, the supporting cast dances the macarena and Monica struts around with a plastic glob of semen affixed to her dress. Can you impeach a musical?

A wittier book and friskier lyrics might have brightened the show. Want to know a good rhyme for fellatio? Or saxophone? Or Arkansas? So do the Hodges. The lines rarely rise above Monica's cheerful chorus: "I'm fuckin' the fuckin' president," or Billy's boast: "There's nothing I do better than pounding a Bush." Dick and testicle jokes abound, while the women in the play are easily typed as ballbusters or sluts. And then there's Eleanor Roosevelt, who makes a number of inexplicable cameos. There's a place for puerile comedy, but it's better suited to a 22-minute sitcom than a two-hour song cycle.

Kenzler has Clinton's chin, Lafoon does a fine approximation of his voice. Both deserve better. Perhaps even the Hodges sense that their show could stand improvement. For all the Clinton quotes and quirks they avail themselves of, neither WJ nor Billy ever utters one of his most famous lines: "I feel your pain."