Review: POTUS at ACT Theatre

Dear Readers, there is nothing like live theater, especially when it all comes together.  And even though Selina Fillinger’s hilarious play “POTUS or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive”, currently playing at ACT, cannot claim that it ALL came together (especially last night, but we’ll get to that), what did come together was comedy gold even with (and sometimes including) that little hiccup.

Fillinger’s oh so timely play focuses on one day in the lives of seven women all connected to the President of the United States in some way.  Now, I should say this is no particular president.  It’s not our current president or any past presidents, good or trainwrecks, just a fictional man, running the country and being propped up by all the capable women around him. 

We have Harriet (Anne Allgood), the President’s beleaguered Chief of Staff, and Jean (Josephine Keefe), his Press Secretary, two women trying to manage his latest scandal.  Stephanie (Annette Toutonghi), the President’s meek secretary trying to keep people from his office.  And Margaret (Gin Hammond), the no nonsense First Lady who is trying to keep her own projects from being derailed by her husband.  All of them dealing with obstacle after career ending obstacle such as Bernadette (Cassi Q Kohl), POTUS’s baby sister, fresh out of prison for drug dealing and looking for either a pardon or new drug clientele, or there’s Dusty (Carly Corey), the President’s … um … special friend who needs to tell the President something important if she can just stop throwing up her Blue Raspberry Slushy (or Blushy) long enough.  And if all that weren’t bad enough, lactating new mother and ace reporter Chris (Ayo Tushinde) is lurking around the West Wing, trying to find a room to pump in as well as a juicy story to prove to her editor that she’s still got it. 

Let me start by saying this script is a thing of beauty.  It’s a good, old fashioned, door slammer farce, the likes of which I haven’t seen in ages.  Add to that the timeliness of its subject matter and the insanely funny physical bits and banter and it’s no wonder this one has been making the rounds at theaters all around the country since it’s Broadway bow in 2022. 

But the script is in no way bulletproof.  I managed to see the Broadway run and fell in love with the script, in part due to the powerhouse cast I saw in it.  I laughed for two hours straight and then proceeded to talk about the show for the rest of my trip to anyone who would listen.  It was so amazing that I dragged some friends down to a theater in LA when they did it.  Still a fun show but lacking that spark.  Luckily, the Seattle production, with it’s seven insanely funny actresses and lead by director Jillian Armenante has that spark in spades. 

Armenante completely understands the timing the show needs as well as the cohesiveness these disparate women need to have.  The pace, physicality, and staging are all top notch making this a roller coaster of hilarity.  If I had one qualm, it’s that often we were laughing so hard that we missed the next funny line.  I wonder if they may have benefited from micing the players.  Just sayin’. 

I guess there was also one other thing, the aforementioned hiccup from last night’s performance.  Near the end of the show, a platform decided to have an issue raising and lowering.  It took about 10-15 minutes to fix it.  OK, not great but we’re good theatergoers and can roll with it.  It also helped that Armenante came out and entertained us with stories and jokes and even a dance number.  Fabulous!  And as a testament to the production, even that delay couldn’t kill the energy of this show. 

But impromptu monologues and finicky set pieces aside, the show killed largely thanks to these seven incredible performers who were all firmly in the same world and feeding off and returning to each other all night long.  The ever-amazing Anne Allgood had the audience in the palm of her hand from the very first word of the show, and she and Keefe played off each other beautifully in the first scene.  Allgood completely owned the stage every time she was out there and traversed an incredible arc all the while being a comedic genius.  And Keefe brought in her own brand of frazzled deliciousness making her a delight.

Hammond commanded the role of the First Lady, a woman who’s eminently more qualified than her husband, but forced to stand behind him.  And the timing with her asides only made her explosive moments more amazing.  Corey brought in a stunning performance, both vocally (yes, she sings) and comedically, and beautifully peeled away the layers of a character assumed to be a bimbo who turns out to be so much more.  Kohl brought in an incredible character with amazing presence and timing and some of the best facial expressions, conveying volumes.  And Tushinde took one of the obstacles of the piece and made us all root for her, and still kept us laughing. 

But it was Toutonghi who blew us all away.  Her physicality, her delivery, her expressions, everything was designed by the theater gods to make us burst out laughing.  She truly delivered a stunning performance, with or without the inner tube.  (Just go see it, you’ll understand.)

A killer play, with a killer director, and killer performers, and what you have is one of the best times you’ll have in a theater all year.  And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give “POTUS or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive” at ACT a “delirious from all the laughter” WOW.  I was bowled over by the Broadway run, a bit disappointed in LA, but then reminded by ACT’s production why I love this show so much.  It is a MUST see!!!

“POTUS or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive” performs at ACT through September 29th.  For tickets or information visit them online at www.acttheatre.org.

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