The past year, three months, and seven days have been hard on Washington, DC. Not that anyone’s counting how long Trump has been back in town,* but in that time, the region has shed over 100,000 federal government jobs, lost its beloved arts center, and watched its newspaper of note drop writers faster than adding Sarah Palin to a presidential ticket can drop your poll numbers.  So excuse me if I want to indulge in the irreverent, satirical trip down memory lane that is 44: The Musical. Remember hope? Remember change? We could all stand to revisit those feelings right about now.  Scene from ‘44: The Musical.’ Photo by Jenny Anderson. A love note to the Obamas and a no-holds-barred spoof of their political contemporaries, 44: The Musical tracks Barack Obama’s meteoric rise from first-term Illinois Senator to America’s first Black president, as his rhetorical prowess and outsized human decency won over an American public reluctant to elect a Black man, to the chagrin of his political rivals on both sides of the aisle.  The best part of 44, in fact, is its evisceration of the political figures who whirled around Obama as he calmly ascended to America’s highest office. Where the show falters is in its portrayal of Barack and Michelle themselves. The first couple is treated with such reverence that they are nearly spoof-proof.  For the other characters, however, the comedy almost writes itself. Eli Bauman, a TV writer and former Obama campaigner who has never written a musical before, renders spot-on parodies of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Ted Cruz, and more. It took me a minute to reorient myself to early 2000s politics, but once I did, I was like, “Oh yeah, it really was this silly!” Remember Herman Cain, the pizza CEO turned Fox News pundit? More on him later.  Joe Biden narrates the show with a squeaky-clean, white-boy energy, and Chad Doreck milks every scene he is in, leaning heavily into the Biden-is-senile, but-gosh-darn-it, he’s-a-nice-vice-presidential-lapdog trope. Jenna Pastuszek is Hillary Clinton at her pantsuit best, starting at a ten and becoming only more unhinged at Barack’s ascendency when it was her turn to break the glass ceiling.  On the other side of the aisle, a cabal of sinister Republicans holds meetings of the WHAM (White, Hetero, Affluent Male) club. Chaired by Mitch McConnell, the old boys’ club makes exceptions for Sarah Palin, whom Summer Collins nails with comedic perfection. Her solo number “Drill Me Baby” turns Palin’s famous campaign slogan into a pole-dance number that leans into the twisted, sexy yet stupid personality type that made Sarah Palin possibly the worst VP nominee in history. Herman Cain is in the club, too, because if the Dems have a Black guy, Republicans should have one too. See? Not racist! Cain, a minor character in the Republican party of the early aughts, is a major player in this show and perhaps my favorite caricature. Dino Shorte commits to the bit in jokes that build until he completely loses his sh*t in a brilliant scene-long tirade. Standout musical numbers include the show’s opener, “M.F.O.” (rhymes with Mother Clucking Obama), the refrain of which is woven ad nauseam throughout the show, but you WILL leave the theater humming “Baracka-laka-Obama.” In the tune “Filibusters,” Larry Cedar and Michael Uribes (as Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz) bring us back to the time Cruz read the entirety of Green Eggs and Ham on the floor of Congress rather than vote for the Affordable Health Care Act. The Dr. Seuss story becomes a syncopated rap that picks up speed with each verse, as the blinged-out senators go full beast mode until the audience was rolling in its seats with laughter.  Sadly, the writer’s reverence for the first couple reduces their scenes to the least interesting moments in the show. T.J. Wilkins as Barack and Sy Smith as Michelle, each strong performers, find fun ways to bring their characters to life — Wilkins busts some smooth moves and Smith hits stratospheric notes not heard since Mariah Carey — but overall it felt like the writers didn’t know how to satirize the central couple who, as America’s first Black first couple, were under constant scrutiny and didn’t have the luxury of being silly. Barack’s “I want” number, “How Black Is Too Black?” homes in on the fact that the public was constantly on alert for signs of “otherness” (Let’s not forget that Trump got his start on the political scene by insisting that Obama was Muslim).  Sorry, am I waxing too poetic on the 44th president? Perhaps, but as the show’s creator reminded us on opening night, it feels so good to remember a time when none of us knew where the Strait of Hormuz was. Spending two hours reminiscing on early 2000s politics, when the biggest question was whether a Black man or a white woman would get the presidential nomination, was a visceral reminder of just how far away we’ve drifted from those days. The audience let out a collective sigh of nostalgia when a photo of Barack and Michelle, holding their daughters’ hands during the inauguration, flashed on the screen. Remember hope? Remember decency? Man, I miss those feelings.  This production clearly has some major bank behind it, and I would be curious to learn more about who is so enthusiastically backing the project. The show plays in DC at the major (i.e., pricey-to-rent) Klein Theater after enjoying successful productions in Chicago, LA, and off-Broadway. Here in DC, the promotion team has blanketed the city with sparkling LED adverts in Metro stations and on buses. Videos featuring Sarah Palin dancing in a bedazzled bustier to the “Baraka-laka-Obama” song have been popping up in my socials all week. This is also the first playbill I’ve ever seen where the producers are given larger headshots and bios than the artists. It’s enough to jade any theatergoer who values art over marketing.  Nevertheless, you will come away from 44: The Musical feeling lighter and happier, much like America did in the Obama years. You will come away googling “whatever happened to Herman Cain?” and you will come away chuckling at the inventiveness of writer Eli Bauman, who somehow assembled a very monied team of investors to make this musical an improbable success.  Bring on the hope and change.  Running Time: Two hours and 30 minutes, including one 15-minute intermission. 44: The Musical plays through May 10, 2026, performing at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Klein Theatre, 450 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC. For tickets ($75–$163), call the box office at 202-547-1122, go online, or visit TodayTix. *Note: If you are reading this after the day it was published, then Trump has been in office even longer. I’m sorry. Buy Tickets Discount Tickets ...read more read less