44: The Musical
The Best…
…Musical I Saw This Week
44: The Musical — Music, Book, Lyrics & Directed by Eli Bauman
Two days after the White House announced its proposed 2026 federal budget, which included the elimination of both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, I decided to go see some art.
I was on a very brief trip to Los Angeles, where reader Spandan D. tipped me off to 44: The Musical, a show running at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City. It had just started its second LA run, fresh off a sold-out interlude in Chicago, and I was lucky to score one of the last remaining tickets on my final night in town.
Created and directed by TV writer and former Obama campaign staffer Eli Bauman, 44: The Musical is a satirical, R&B-infused reimagining of a slice of the Obama era that begins with his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and ends with his reelection to the White House in 2012. (You can listen to the cast album here.)
If Hamilton was the earnest, polished soundtrack of the Obama period, 44: The Musical is the ramshackle, tongue-in-cheek version that suits these wilderness years.
The tale is narrated by Joe Biden (played by Chad Doreck), who acknowledges up front that his memory may be a bit “fuzzy.” Undaunted, he plows into the story, introducing us to the man himself (T.J. Wilkins) and a version of Michelle Obama (Shanice of “I Love Your Smile” fame) who loves Barack almost as much as Biden does.
The cartoonish villains of the story are a cynically triumphant — and hilarious — Mitch McConnell, the chronically unlikeable Ted Cruz, parasol-toting Southern dandy Lindsey Graham, pizza godfather Herman Cain, and a pole dancing Sarah Palin. Frenemy Hillary Clinton makes a memorably acerbic appearance as well.
The show is fun, funny, and clever, and it’s overflowing with late-20th century pop culture references. Among my favorites: Michelle Obama’s entrance to “She’s Your Queen” from Coming to America, complete with rose petals being dropped along her path; Herman Cain’s appropriately unhinged big number, titled, “Herman Cain,” that’s set to the tune of Prince’s “Purple Rain” (and had me crying with laughter); and Biden C-walking in one celebratory moment, then joining Obama for the Kid ’n Play kick step sequence from House Party in the next.
For two and a half hours, we ticket buyers got what we were craving: the chance to watch talented artists take us on an amusing trip back in time and give us welcome respite from our present predicament.
When it ended, though, I walked outside and looked at my phone. A headline in the Wall Street Journal informed me, “Trump Says ‘I Don’t Know’ When Asked if He Must Uphold the Constitution.”
“Oh, well,” I thought to myself. “It was fun while it lasted.”