IT GETS LONELY IN THE WHITE HOUSE

Last night I journeyed out in the cold to 47th Street in NYC to see fellow Jersey City native Nathan (formerly Joseph) Lane in David Mamet’s new political comedy NOVEMBER at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

I had purchased the ticket for $78.00 through BroadwayOffers.com (code SAVE13). My seat was in the front orchestra, 5th row on the aisle. It was the wrong aisle – and I wasn’t actually on the aisle but locked against a wall. However it turned out to be a very good seat, with full view of all the action.

Nathan Lane plays President Charles H.P. “Chuck” Smith (the "H.P." is never identified) who is losing badly in his re-election bid. The only way he will win is if everyone stays home on Election Day. Why? As his lawyer, played by Dylan Baker, tells him during the first minutes of the play, “You FU-ed up the country!” Sound like anyone we know?

Mamet has been quoted as saying Lane’s character is not meant to be George W. – and President Smith bears absolutely no physical or other resemblance or connection to the current occupant of the Oval Office, other than invading a country and sending suspected terrorists to hidden offshore locations for torture (“Chuck” constantly threatens to banish those who defy him on the "piggy plane" to a secret detention camp in Bulgaria in manacles with bags over their heads).

As “the Committee” has abandoned him with not enough money for even a Presidential Library, Smith attempts to use blackmail and a chain of “quid pro quos” to get enough money for one last ditch effort to keep his job for 4 more years.

Unlike Lane’s turn as Sheridan Whiteside in the Roundabout Theatre’s revival of the classic THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER, I doubt this production will be broadcast on PBS. This is because of Mamet’s affection for the grand-daddy of all four-letter words, used prominently throughout the show. Lane has commented that one presumably little old lady wrote to him to say the title of the play should be changed to F_ _ K, as the word is used so much in the dialogue (I wasn’t sure if I could use all four letters in a blog).

During the course of the play, Lane’s President Smith manages to hilariously offend just about every ethnic, religious, and racial group from women, Jews and Native Americans to adopted Chinese children and Scandinavians,

In addition to Dylan Baker as Lane’s straight man the cast also includes Roseanne’s Laurie Metcalf as a liberal-leaning lesbian speechwriter who has just returned from China where she and her partner have “bought” a Chinese baby, Ethan Phillips, Star Trek Voyager’s Neelix, as a representative of the turkey farmers’ association who is constantly asking Lane to let the two turkeys (one back-up in case the original does not make it until Thanksgiving) about to be pardoned smell his hands (“the turkeys are very sensitive”), and Michael Nichols as a poison dart blowpipe carrying Indian chief who wants President Smith to turn over the National Wildlife Preserve on Nantucket to his tribe so they can build a 4000-room hotel and casino.

The show was a scream, and Nathan Lane, who is onstage the entire time, is perfect in the role. It is as if it were written especially for him. Nathan’s performance is manic, but not over-the-top like his Sid Caesar-inspired role in LAUGHTER ON THE 23rd FLOOR. The entire cast is great. The plot is a bit silly, with President Smith threatening to replace turkey as the traditional Thanksgiving main course with first pork (“What about the Jews?”, “Do they celebrate Thanksgiving?”) and then tuna, but it works.

The show does point out one truism of politics – everyone, even the liberal-leaning lesbian (say that 5 times fast), has his/her price, that one thing that he/she wants badly enough to compromise or pay for.

Two thumbs way up. Go see it!

Two semi-related items:

(1) A phrased used several times in the play reminded me of a true story.

A friend’s car broke down while in Jersey City and he called the auto club for a tow. The tow truck that eventually arrived had “IDGAF TOWING” printed on the door.

My friend asked the driver if the initials represented the names of the owners - i.e. Irving, David, Gary, Adam and Ferdinand.

“No”, replied the driver. “It stands for I Don’t Give A F _ _ k!”

(2) Many, many years ago I was holding open auditions for a local production of Stephen Sondheim’s COMPANY at the Five Corners branch of the Jersey City Public Library about the same time that Joseph Lane was an upperclassman at St Peter’s Prep. I did not keep the “sign-in” sheets – my director, who has since gone on to his final audition, took them.

I have always wondered if Joe Lane had auditioned for the musical. He certainly wasn’t in the cast. I have vowed to kick myself if I ever do get to ask Nathan Lane the question and receive an affirmative answer.

TTYL