POTUS OPERANDI
Let’s just say this is a 180-degree departure from “The Heiress,” Shira Dubrovner’s previous show which went up in November.
“POTUS: Or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive” is the latest production from Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theater.
It’s a raucous farce – you won’t get lost in the weeds of Victorian-era ethical dilemmas.
Actually, you won’t get lost, period. The writing and the jokes are snappy and in-your-face and dripping with innuendo.
Not a show for the prudish.
The show opened on Broadway in April, 2022. It was written by a first-timer (Selina Fillinger) and was nominated for three Tony Awards.
It chronicles the staff, loves, family and hangers-on of a president who’s got the libido of Bill Clinton coupled with the rhetorical skills of G.W. Bush and the moral compass of Donald Trump.
In short, a president who meets our expectations.
All hell starts to break loose when one of POTUS’s lovers shows up at the White House to tell him she’s pregnant.
Which launches staffers into frenzied action to keep the lover away from the First Lady as well as a nosy White House correspondent running loose in the West Wing.
To complicate matters, the President’s drug-dealing sister (who’s counting on a presidential pardon) shows up, and one of the staffers mistakenly gobbles up too much of her stash.
And in some respects, her psychedelic trip matches our own as we try to keep up. Dance numbers break out. As does projectile vomiting.
There are occasional moments of idealism … rest assured they are quickly drowned out by more immediate concerns – like job security and evading criminal prosecution.
It’s all familiar territory, n’est-ce pas?
The all-women ensemble cast is more than up to the challenge. Fun show!
Chief of Staff – Joanna Ramsdale
Press Secretary – Michelle Raust
POTUS’s Secretary – Meghan Bair
FLOTUS – Jameisha Washington
Pesky Journalist – Tyler McManus
POTUS’s Mistress – Lianne Salcido
POTUS’s Sister – Allison Peeler
POTUS – Craig Ramsdale
