THEATRE REVIEW: Trump: The Musical
Trump: The Musical
Blowfish Theatre
Theatre Delicatessen, Sheffield
7.30pm on Friday, May 11
4pm on Saturday, May 12
7.30pm on Saturday, May 12
THE DEMAND for tickets to Trump has been "yuge", to use his word.
So "yuge" that the deranged geniuses behind the musical have scheduled a second performance in their home city.
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Hide AdThe team touched a nerve and tickled a funnybone with their well-observed lampooning of Boris Johnson and the Eton set last year.
Now they have returned with an even wackier parody of the most divisive US president in history.
While Boris charted the ridiculous-but-true rise of our foreign secretary, Trump extrapolates its subject’s rule to an improbable near future.
The action takes place in 2020, with Trump seeking re-election so he can “Make America Great Again! Again!” (the show’s opening number).
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Hide AdThe president (David Burchhardt) and his umpteenth press secretary Rod (Polly Bycroft-Brown) travel to England to meet King Nigel Farage I (Kyle Williams) and buy Scotland.
Vladmir Putin (Natasha Lanceley) is insanely jealous of the new friendship, while Kim Jong-un (also Lanceley) is just insane, launching nukes at everyone in range.
Can agent Roger Lavery (Laurence Peacock) of MLE stop the Three Little Demagogues (the closing tune) carving up the Earth between them?
And will Rod, his loyalties divided between Don and democracy, help or hinder his efforts?
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Hide AdThe set, plot and accents are all barely there, but Trump has bags of energy and the satire is bang up to date. (A gag about Iran must have been added this week.)
All of the cast get bags of laughs — including, sixth member Sergei (Dominic Lo, the show’s composer and pianist).
But Lanceley really steals the show, as not one but two deranged world leaders.
While the rest amuse with their sharp-eyed impressions, energetic slapstick and raunchy wit, Lanceley shows real dramatic chops and versatility.
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Hide AdIt’s a show as unsettling as it is funny. As egos collide and nukes fly, how surreal does the situation really seem?
With a world leader really tweeting policy from his potty, this wacky send-up does still provide food for thought.
Even if it does climax in the Kremlin’s solid gold sex dungeon.
There are plenty of tickets left for the Saturday matine, so snap some up now.