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You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush - Ferrell's Bush, Not Unexpectedly, Amuses
Categories: UncategorizedBefore Will Ferrell's You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush began previews, producers worked strenuously to ensure that the piece's jokes and routines were not leaked to the press. The assumption being that humor loses its impact if audiences are anticipating punch lines or certain sequences. With the show's official opening on Broadway last night at the Cort Theatre, a critic is put in an awkward position vis-à-vis spoilers. How much should he or she divulge about this frequently hilarious, consistently amusing, show? Perhaps the previous sentence is enough of a review, but maybe not.
Suffice it to say that SNL-alum Ferrell, whose impersonations of the former president are known to most of the English-speaking world, has concocted a 90-minute roast that darts from subject to subject with ease, leaving almost no aspect of Bush's White House years or personal life unscathed with one exception. In a very classy move (a sense of decency pervades the mirthful, if sometimes loony and elsewhere irreverent, show), the former first lady and first daughters do not become targets in "America."
That being said, the other Bush first family gets a fair share of ribbing, as do many of the cabinet members who were part of the just departed administration. In case theatergoers have forgotten just who some of these people may be – and some did have exceptionally short life spans – their photos are part of Lisa Cuscuna and Chris Cronin's effective and sometimes comic video design. As Bush reminisces about his cabinet, probably the best jokes, no surprise here, are about Vice President Cheney, although a riff on the "accomplishments" of FEMA chief Michael Brown are just about as funny.
Interestingly, Ferrell's script minimally relies on the former commander-in-chief's penchant for malapropisms as a source of punch lines, and it magnifies (well, over imagines), what Bush's internal life and secret doings might have been. One of the funniest segments of "America" involves a couple thousand Moroccan monkeys while another concentrates on a wonderfully playful Big Foot.
Ferrell isn't flying solo in "America" – although a helicopter of sorts is employed in Eugene Lee's simple scenic design which brings to mind the campy austerity of the visuals for the presidential conventions held by either party. Joining Ferrell in this hour-and-a-half lark are performers that help escalate the giddiness of the show. Pia Glenn makes for a particularly funny Condoleezza Rice and Patrick Ferrell is onstage throughout as the former president's humorless secret service operative.
Again, the notion of a stony-faced G-man in the midst of the playful "America" is probably enough to conjure images of what might be taking place on stage at the Cort. For those who want to find out more, a visit to the Cort and "America" is not only necessary; it's also a comic, political treat.
---- Andy Propst
You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush plays at the Cort Theatre (138 West 48th Street). Performances are Tuesday through Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2 and 8pm; and Sunday at 3 and 7pm. Tickets are $56.50 - $116.50 and can be purchased by calling 212-239-6200 or by visiting www.telecharge.com. Further information is also available online at www.WillFerrellOnBroadway.com.
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