Quantcast

White House parody ‘Me the People’ returns to the Off-Broadway stage

Off-Broadway’s “Me the People” returns this summer with another President Donald Trump-themed production.

“Because this last year and a half has been a complete whirlwind, the production takes us through everything that’s happened and it’s pretty breathless, just like how the past 100-plus days have been breathless,” creator Nancy Holson says.

You could consider “Me the People: Fire and Fury Edition,” which opened July 24, a sequel to her 2017 musical that found its laughs by dissecting White House happenings during Trump’s first 100 days in office. The original parody closed last September after more than 70 performances over the course of five months at the Triad Theater.

“It had been doing really quite well and selling strongly,” she recalls. “It actually served a purpose in this political climate. So, we took time to get the show together with new material and rethink our objectives.”

This time, the musical is fired up and ready to help New Yorkers “laugh through their tears.”

“We have found a way to take this situation, which is so dark, and get through it with laughter,” Holson says. “What happens with our show is, we take the audience in this 90-minute journey and by the end there’s a real feeling of camaraderie in the audience, a feeling that we’re not alone and we have laughed at something we never thought we could laugh at.”

The production promises a comical analysis of the presidency through the eyes of the late father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, mockery of Trump’s Twitter feed, and commentary on real-time “White House chaos.” Jabs at Trump’s cabinet members, Jared Kushner, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and others are not off limits.

“We’re looking at how our world has changed since Trump is in office and the different issues, like freedom of the press, the immigration situation . . . we look at the lack of ethics that come every day. It sounds really dry, but it’s not. We find ways to have fun with all of it,” Holson says, adding that the production includes dozens of musical numbers.

“Fire and Fury” is set for a run at the Laurie Beechman Theatre (407 W. 42nd St.) through Nov. 6, the date of the 2018 midterm election.

The parody stars Aiesha Dukes and Mia Weinberger, who appeared in the original production. Rounding out the cast are Ashley Leon, Joe Marx, Jimmy Robertson and Vanessa Robinson, who are all new to the Off-Broadway scene.

“Fire and Fury” — which has no connection to the book by Michael Wolff — joins a growing list of plays, scripts, books and more produced in response to Trump’s presidency, including Michael Moore’s 2017 Broadway production, “The Terms of My Surrender.”

For tickets ($35) and more information, visit MeThePeopleMusical.com.