POTUS review: The Broadway farce loses its purpose in Los Angeles production

POTUS, or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive premiered on Broadway in 2022 with an all-star cast and a timely nod to the ongoing erosion of women’s rights. The show is every bit as pertinent two years later, but a new production at Los Angeles’ Geffen Playhouse lacks the verve and bite the script demands.

The play, written by Selina Fillinger, follows the events of a disastrous day in the White House, as Press Secretary Jean (Celeste Den) and Chief of Staff Harriet (Shannon Cochran) race to put out fires that include the President’s use of the c-word to describe the First Lady, Margaret (Alexandra Billings), the arrival of his pregnant mistress, Dusty (Jane Levy), and the reappearance of his felonious sister, Bernadette (Deirde Lovejoy).

But the shine is off the penny here, whether it’s the lackluster staging, the slackness of the performances, or the clunkiness of the sets. Jennifer Chambers’ direction allows for far too much air in the proceedings. Moments that should zing are instead drawn out, punchlines softened as they float like balloons, instead of landing with pummeling impact. There’s a lack of precision in much of the staging, particularly when the action descends into chaos as Presidential Secretary Stephanie (Lauren Blumenfeld) accidentally gets high in the wake of journalist Chris (Ito Aghayere) pitching a marble bust into the president’s head.

As Harriet and Jean try to wrestle things back to order, it all becomes a blurry mess. Farce is one of the most challenging genres to execute, and it’s because it requires a level of rigor and exactitude in its staging and performances. Planned chaos is the name of the game, but in this production, everything feels unrefined and loose. It all needs to be tightened around the edges. If the Broadway production had hospital corners, this is an untucked top sheet.

Brett J. Banakis’ set doesn’t help matters. On Broadway, POTUS had the benefit of a revolving stage, allowing the increasingly unhinged action to play out on a wildly out-of-control carousel that zipped us from one location to another. Banakis’ set requires actors to lean around narrow gaps in flats and contend with actively moving pieces and visible stagehands as they try to keep things moving. There is surely a way to do this show without a turntable, but this is not it.

That’s not to say that Fillinger’s script doesn’t still find opportunities to sing amid the muddled staging. The ensemble is solid, if a little too actor-y. The cast attempts to overcompensate with broad acting choices that reduce the play’s biting central themes.

Cochran keeps things moving as Harriet, the harried chief of staff waiting for a big break that will never come. Her groundedness as a performer prevents things from flying completely out of control, and she feels the most real of the cast. Both Blumenfeld and Lovejoy have the clearest innate understanding of the show’s requisite comedic timing. Billings grants the First Lady a take-no-prisoners attitude, infusing the character’s inherent elegance with a dangerously overloaded B.S. meter.  

Levy, who audiences know best as the title character from Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, makes her stage debut as the ditzy Dusty. She pivots the role from a sex-positive bombshell to an unapologetically earnest twenty-something, and it’s a fascinating choice (both on her part and in terms of casting decisions). It’s less her overt sexuality and more her winning naivety that make her easy to underestimate (a mistake the rest learn not to repeat). Levy infuses the character with a warmth that lets her sparkle amidst the chaos, but this also slightly undercuts the potential danger her character is meant to leave in her wake.

Both Aghayere and Den have the challenging task of playing mostly even-keeled characters, who occasionally erupt into hilarious breakdowns. But as such, they can’t ever quite find their footing, excelling in certain moments and feeling off-kilter in many others.

POTUS is a whizbang of a play, but the Geffen production exposes its seams to an unfortunate degree. It’s both a laugh-out-loud comedy and a sobering tribute to the invisible labor women do to keep the country (and their homes) running, in spite of whatever chaos comes their way. But when its comedy isn’t tight as a screw, the play starts to rattle around the edges. This POTUS feels more toothless than the possibilities of Fillinger’s writing offer. Those who are new to the work will undoubtedly find it uproariously hilarious, but as is so often the case with the occupant of the White House, you can’t help but want to see the glimmers of its potential realized more fully. Grade: C+

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