Theater review: ‘POTUS’ dishes up sharp comedic performances but ultimately dull satire
Celeste Den, Alexandra Billings, Shannon Cochran and Ito Aghayere (left to right) perform at the Geffen Playhouse. “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive” will run in the Gil Cates Theater through Feb. 25. (Courtesy of Jeff Lorch)
“POTUS”
Jan. 17 - Feb. 25
Gil Cates Theater
$45 - $139
By Dannela Lagrimas
Feb. 4, 2024 12:23 p.m.
This post was updated Feb. 6 at 8:28 p.m.
“POTUS” is painting the White House uniquely pink.
The Los Angeles production of the Tony-nominated farcical comedy debuted at the Geffen Playhouse on Jan. 17, where it will run until Feb. 25. “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive” follows a chaotic series of events for women associated with the eponymous president: a man who is never named nor shown on-stage but whose incompetence lays the foundation for the plot’s antics. While its cast delivers excellent comedic performances, its satire of high-pressure politics and dynamics stops short of reelection.
The seven-woman ensemble is hilarious, both as a team and as individual players. Jane Levy delights as Dusty, the president’s naive, pregnant mistress. Alexandra Billings embodies Margaret, his overqualified wife, and Lauren Blumenfeld shines as Stephanie, his meek, bumbling secretary. Deirdre Lovejoy plays Bernadette, his rogue, drug-dealing sister; Ito Aghayere is Chris, a journalist hunting for a scoop and whose attempts to find a place to breastfeed become a fun but worn-out physical comedy motif. Celeste Den and Shannon Cochran round out the cast as Jean and Harriet, the press secretary and chief of staff, respectively, who are tasked with keeping the whole operation from toppling over.
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Whether it’s Blumenfeld running through the theater in a floaty, covered in POTUS’s blood, or Levy’s full-blown musical number accompanied by cheerleader choreography, all seven actresses commit to the bit. The resulting performances are a treat to watch. In an all-star cast, Billings and Cochran are the standouts.
Billings commands the stage with her sheer presence, perfectly cast as a first lady whose accomplishments far outweigh that of her husband’s, yet who is still confined to his shadow. She savors every profane line with equal parts power and hilarity. Billings makes her character’s ridiculous fuchsia Crocs – an attempt at rebranding Margaret’s image to be more “earthy” and less intimidating – look like boots of battle.
Cochran arguably has the tallest order of the company. For the audience, she serves as the show’s anchor, grounding the far-fetched plot as her castmates careen through hijinks. As Harriet, she also has to rein in the six other characters and POTUS to ensure that the country doesn’t fall apart. She rises above and beyond both challenges. Cochran’s line delivery punches through the myriad jokes, and she spars delightfully with her co-stars, elevating the writing purely through delivery alone.
Selina Fillinger’s script, directed by Jennifer Chambers, is unmistakably feminist. The first line – a vulgar four-letter word used for a woman’s genitals – is reclaimed by the end of the play to represent boldness. The story is quick-paced, peppered with enough expletives and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it one-liners to make the writers of “Veep” proud.
But while the show’s first act finds the sweet spot between amusement and acuity, it languishes under its lofty goals in act two. “POTUS” aims to satirize more than it can handle: in turn, it falls short on most of them. Moments that should be hilarious – like a wild goose chase around the theater – flail under sloppy direction. When the script attempts a serious moment at the end of the play about the silent, thankless role women play for men in power, it feels abrupt rather than earned. The premise suggests a rich mine of themes to be explored, but it doesn’t quite strike gold.
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Although the jokes keep the audience laughing at first, there’s only so many times an expletive can be repeated before it stops being funny. It also struggles to distinguish between empowerment and ridicule. For instance, the character of Dusty is presented as having full sexual agency, yet her main story arc revolves around her using her wiles to distract men. Is this liberating or degrading? The story moves too rapidly for such themes to be explored. To the credit of the players, they manage to flesh out characters without resorting to caricatures. Still, it is a shame the writing doesn’t fully match the cast’s wide range of talents.
In terms of setting, a turntable stage from designer Brett J. Banakis keeps the rooms of the White House in constant motion, similar to the play’s action. However, like the writing, too many moving parts make it difficult to focus, and the visible stagehands only contribute to the chaos onstage. The lighting, designed by Elizabeth Harper, does well in spotlighting characters while keeping up with the fast tempo. Samantha C. Jones’ costumes clad each of the women in sharp, rich colors and, at times, function as jokes of their own.
Ultimately, “POTUS” does not say anything new. Nevertheless, there is a kind of thrill in watching the characters take control of the male-dominated field of politics while simultaneously seeing seven actresses earnestly commit in a vulgar and violent farce – a type of comedy also historically commanded by men.
That’s a revolution worth voting for.