"As a farce, 'POTUS' still plays by old and almost definitionally male rules; farce is built on tropes of domination and violence. On the other hand, and more happily, 'POTUS' lets us experience the double-bind of exceptional women unmediated by the men who depend on their complicity."
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"'POTUS' works overall: It just wants to be funny, and it is, and that’s a pleasure. Today's body politic is riddled with sores. I can’t say for certain that laughter is the best medicine for that, but it sure is a welcome palliative."
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"Ultimately, 'POTUS' goes for an easy ending by teasing the audience with the possibility of a female president and female retribution. But considering we’re not anywhere near that reality, and women are losing rights to their own bodies as we speak, such overtures of hope ring hollow. Reality is its own farce at the moment, and no one’s laughing."
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"Fillinger’s whizbang comedy is not perfect. Its characterization slews crazily around; its grip on gross-out humor is a little loose. ... Still, 'POTUS' makes its many effective jokes with its jaw cocked. Every now and then a woman will marvel at another woman’s brilliance and ask, 'So why isn’t she president?' Darn tootin’."
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"If 'POTUS,' directed by Susan Stroman and opening today at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre, never quite rises to the level of those three influences – not as darkly clever as 'VEEP,' as lightning quick as 'Noises Off' nor as go-for-deliriously-broke as Ludlam – 'POTUS' barrels through its weaker stretches on the contagious enthusiasm and in-it-together vivacity of a crowd-pleasing cast."
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"Like a lot of farces, this one runs out of steam before the end, partly because the mostly unseen antagonist (we do get his legs) becomes sufficiently incapacitated that he can no longer do much to roll the events to a climax and partly because the play doesn’t quite know what to do with an underwritten reporter who does not seem to want to report. And the craziness dial is so far to the right, so early in the show, the play doesn’t really save enough of itself for a full-on Act Two build."
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"Performances are key in 'POTUS' and the cast, under the direction of Susan Stroman, exceeds expectations. They deliver their lines nimbly, which keeps the play agile and appropriately tense. White, with her screeching, nervous pacing, wide eyes and gesticulating arms, complements Nakamura’s intentionally stiff stance and staccato cadences. Their realization and brainstorming sessions hit the right mix of comical and stressful."
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"Every player, in fact, gets funny moments: The laughs are doled out so judiciously that the actors’ contracts may have been drawn up with the equal protection clause in mind."
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