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Based on the novel by Sinclair Lewis
Adapated for the stage by
Tony Taccone & Bennett S. Cohen
This totally sold-out reading, at the Metropolitan Playhouse, was just one of many being held simultaneously across the country this week. The timing – just two weeks before one of the most brutal and unusual election seasons ever – could not have been more appropriate.
The belief referred to in the play’s title is the election of a Fascist-type candidate as US President. It takes place in 1936 America. The narrator introduces the play with these words:
Any resemblance of the events in the play to current events is purely coincidental
In 1936 –
There were race riots in our cities
A vast income gap between the rich and the poor
A major drought in several states
A right-wing extremist running for president
Millions of new immigrants
And foreign wars creating global terror…
These similarities (and others as well) were NOT lost on the audience.
In promulgating a climate of fear, the right-wing candidate utters a barrage straight out of one of our current candidate’s playbooks –
The system is broken
We have enemies, REAL enemies
We need a Wall!
They’re losers!
The counterbalance to this is the wise old newspaper editor, Doremus Jessup (perfectly played by John D. McNally) who cannot fathom how the majority can be so blind to the dangers lurking. He understands the “disease of despair,” and points out that “no country can endure another’s tragedies,” in explaining the refugee issues. “It’s the inebriation of power at stake here.”
When the inevitable happens, all manner of justice vanishes; the country devolves into an unrecognizable entity that feeds on itself. (Not since the Bush Administration have we seen mere opposition viewed as traitorous.) Labor camps, martial law, gun-toting militias.
This raises the question of “what to do next?” How can this system be combatted? The torment of silence or personal danger. How can one retain humanity and avoid becoming the persecutor?
The cast is strong with stars Kelly Cooper as our blowhard candidate with just enough charm to attract the crowds; Kim Yancey-Moore as one of the “opposition,” in her graceful effortless portrayal and a spectacular Dinh James Doan as the chillingly sadistic judge. One baffling casting was Hector Palacios whose grasp of English was not up to the task. His accent drew repeated whispers of “what did he say” until finally it was accepted that he just could not be understood. From his inflections, one could infer that he really did not understand the part and had the effect of disconnecting him from an otherwise excellent cast.
This was the perfect antidote to the current election fiasco. Just knowing that there are those who understand these kinds of mentalities is salve to the frustrated.