OBAMA ON MY MIND at Langston Hughes PAC

Seattle's Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center is presenting the US premiere of the new musical comedy "Obama On My Mind".  And I have to say, the show is one of the most blatant and unnecessary abuses of President Obama's good name and the good feelings people have toward him since the Franklin Mint issued the Obama Commemorative half dollar.

The story (if you could call it that), written by Teddy Hayes, centers on a small town's Obama campaign headquarters just days before the election and the crazy group of volunteers working in the office.  After many speeches about why they like Obama and backstory on themselves, they decide to put on a show (a la Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney) as a fundraiser.  Why they are putting on a fundraiser days before the election when it would do no good is beyond me but there you have it.  And that's pretty much it.  There is no plot and nothing for these characters to overcome.  There is only bland, forced dialogue stringing together a series of repetitive songs from a collection of two dimensional stereotypical characters.  The show tries to ground itself in a sense of realism by using the actual historical events as a backdrop but since the characters are the worst kinds of caricatures, there is nothing real about it.  And usually my biggest problem with new musicals is that the songs don't move the story along.  But in this case there is no story so there's nothing to move along.

The cast does an admirable job with what they were given but I have to wonder about some of the choices.  Every single character was so over the top and one note that I wasn't sure whether to attribute this to the actors, the writer or the director (Jacqueline Moscou).  Since it was the entire cast, I have to go with the latter two.  And speaking of things the director should have been wary of, there's teaching your actors to listen to each other and then there's making thEm LoOK like they are.  Throughout the show the actors all had a habit of interjecting listening noises or comments while the other actors gave their lines.  Often times this was to the detriment of hearing said line as the other actors on stage couldn't be quiet.  If someone did that to you in a real conversation you'd think they were being rude and interrupting you.  So why would they think it resembles listening here? 

I really only found two numbers somewhat enjoyable.  Burnt out political advisor, Mary's (played by Demene Hall) pledge of undying devotion to her man in "Obama and Me" and delivery driver Trish (played by Josephine Howell) with her crowd stirring title song, "Obama On My Mind".  Both these songs were performed completely over the top as well but in these cases it was appropriate.  But when your entire show is like that, it loses something.

All in all the show lacks any kind of coherent through line of a story.  It just ends up being a character study of people that could have worked for any campaign throughout history.  But putting them in the Obama camp not only gloms onto the topicality of current events but also the good will and positive energy surrounding the President himself and the man deserves better than that.  Here, let me do you a favor, dear reader, and sum up the show for you.  We're wacky.  We love Obama.  We sing.  We put on a show.  He wins.  The end.  There, I just saved you two hours.

"Obama On My Mind" plays at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center through November 15^th.  For tickets or information contact the Brown Paper Tickets at 206-386-1177 or visit them online at www.brownpapertickets.com or www.langstonhughesperformingarts.org.

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