Zonya Love as Karen (left) spills out her feelings to Jason Tam as John McCain in the new Off-Broadway musical Ghost of John McCain.
Scott Elmegreen and Drew Fornarola’s lively satiric musical Ghost of John McCain has a throw-anything-at-the-wall feel to it, but it’s apt: the action takes place inside the mind of President Donald Trump between Aug. 25, 2018 (the date of John McCain’s death) and Jan. 6, 2021. Given the attention span of the ex-President, it’s no wonder that events in his mind carom around like billiard balls.
Ben Fankhauser plays a closeted, S&M-loving senator from South Carolina in the satiric musical.
At the pearly gates, the late Republican senator from Arizona (Jason Tam) is about to enter Heaven (envisioned by Lawrence E. Moten III as the lobby of a swank hotel) to echoing eulogies by Barack Obama and George W. Bush. He is met by a white-clad St. Peter (Ben Fankhauser), who is looking over his CV:
Ran for President; almost won. Fought in Vietnam … almost won … Self-described “foot soldier in the Reagan revolution” … wow, that’s ... Neat.
McCain takes stock of the elegant surroundings, but something soon seems amiss. Behind a curtain is Teddy Roosevelt (Aaron Michael Ray) on a toilet. In spite of the crystal chandeliers, there’s a pricey call girl striding by, calling out, “Piss stuff?” Also hanging around are Trump’s ruthless, early-career mentor Roy Cohn (Fankhauser) and Eva Perón (Zonya Love); Eva explains that “the big man loooooooves musicals.” McCain soon realizes that in death he is trapped inside Donald Trump’s head.
That loopy premise (Elmegreen wrote the book) opens up opportunities for appearances by everyone from Hillary Clinton to Joe Biden to Taylor Swift, as well as “characters” such as Trump’s brain and a dancing cheeseburger (Mieka van der Ploeg did the bright, zany costumes).
Fornarola’s score encompasses soulful ballads, bouncy dance numbers, and occasional homages, including to Evita and Hamilton. Who knew that Trump is apparently a fan of musicals? (That tidbit is lifted from I’ll Take Your Questions Now, the memoir by former White House communications director Stephanie Grisham.)
Clinton: He’s got a guy on staff they call the Music Man to play him “Memory” from Cats whenever he gets too stressed.
McCain: That can’t be true.
Perón: Look it up.
Aaron Michael Ray plays Donald Trump’s brain. Photographs by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.
The creators have done their homework, and although the scattershot plot may occasionally cause one’s head to spin, the script seems on steroids under the brisk direction of Catie Davis, as Trump imagines himself the star of a musical inside his head, where all the characters live and annoy him. Especially fun are scenes between McCain and a boyish, blond Luke Kolbe Mannikus, alternately sulky and boastful, embodying Trump’s idea of himself—a hormone-driven, pouty 14-year-old.
There are key contributions from Lindsay Nicole Chambers as Hillary Clinton, or Satan (in Trump’s mind); Love as a generic, Trump-loving Karen; and particularly Fankhauser, who, in addition to Cohn and St. Peter, is a kinky Lindsey Graham, dressed in mesh and black leather, making the most of rumors that the South Carolina senator is secretly gay in a song called “Good Boy”:
I’m a loyal loving fan.
And so there’s no need to be coy.
I find a big big big big man
Who needs a good good good good boy.
Laughs are plentiful, drawing on old stories—Karen tells McCain, “I don’t understand why you can’t just give Trump what he wants. When he’s a star, you let him do it!”—and ones that echo recent comments, as Trump compares himself with previous Presidents, summoning up James Madison, for instance:
Trump: You know this fucker owned thirty-six more slaves than me?
Madison: I did still write the Constitution, though.
Trump: Yeah, well, I have notes.
McCain (right) enlists the help of Teddy Roosevelt (Ray), who’s also dwelling in Trump's brain.
Nor do the creators of the show shy away from the conservative senator’s flaws:
Trump: You started Trumpism! That was you!
McCain: That was not me!
Trump: When you picked Sarah Palin! … And listened to her faux-populism and decided you were too afraid of it to admit you’d made a mistake!
There are a few quibbles. Tam looks nothing like the white-haired McCain in anyone’s memory, including Trump’s, and although he sings well, he’s basically the straight man in this whirlwind of comic moments. And the plot, which jumps from the lobby of heaven that’s inside Trump’s head to a Fox News party to a torture chamber deeper in Trump’s consciousness, where McCain is held prisoner until the assault on the Capitol, can be tricky to follow. But for anyone terrorized by America’s current political climate, it offers an opportunity for laughter that’s not an option in the real world.
Ghost of John McCain plays through Nov. 10 at the SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam St.). Evening performances are at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday; matinees are at 3 p.m. Saturday (but on Nov. 9 at 2 p.m.) and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. For tickets and more information, call the box office at (212) 691-1555 or visit ghostofjohnmccain.com.
Book: Scott Elmegreen
Music & Lyrics: Drew Fornarola
Director: Catie Davis
Scenic Design: Lawrence E. Moten III
Costume Design: Mieka van der Ploeg
Lighting Design: Colleen Doherty
Sound Design: Daniela Hart/UptownWorks
Hair & Wig Design: Ashley Rae Callahan
