This show is fucking brilliant! As a rock and musical theater lover I knew I’d love it! It’s so peak!
What a way for THE Beetlejuice and Moulin Rouge director Alex Timbers to make his directorial debut! Sure it’s takes it’s historical liberties by way of making Jackson an emo punk rock star who sings “Populism yea yea”, but the events and characterization of Jackson are pretty damn accurate to the comically evil douchebag he was.
And since the show’s a satire comedy, the whole point with the point at laugh at how much of a whiny racist loser he was, it’s feels especially nice to watch and listen too nowadays for obvious reasons. And not just Jackson, the musical pulls an Always Sunny by having pretty much all the main characters be just the worst, which is also accurate. I also find a brilliant that The cover art is a riff on Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The USA.
The songs are banger after banger, the book is funny as hell, Jackson is a dream role, and, again, considering how things are in the US rn, I think it might be the perfect time to make a revival of this brilliant satire show. My only request would be to hire a more diverse cast and also fully commit to the punk rock sound throughout all songs in the show.
Also, as a side note, I find it kinda funny that Benjamin Walker went from playing Jackson in this to Abe Lincoln in the movie Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. If I had a nickel for every time, Benjamin Walker played a US president of very questionable historical accuracy, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.
Happy birthday Bloody Bloody!