This sharp satirical musical, written by Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold, with music by Peter Matz, exposes the private life of J Edgar Hoover, the first director of the FBI. Here Comes J Edgar! was first presented on the radio back in 1994, so it has had a long journey to the stage. Now it has set up shop at the King’s Head Theatre in Islington.
J Edgar Hoover (1895-1972) was the top man in American law enforcement for 48 years, particularly driven to harass Communists, homosexuals, and people of colour. He was pally with mafia figures, revelled in illegal wiretapping and other underhand methods, and maintained secret files on anyone he personally disliked.
A secret homosexual himself, Hoover (played by Mad Men‘s Bryan Batt) maintained a lifestyle out of the public eye with his ‘lifetime assistant’ Clyde Tolson (1900-1975). Tolson (played by Hugo Bolton) is a figure who has appeared in many films about Hoover, and their relationship now seems accepted as fact. Here, Shearer and Leopold offer their partnership as something of a gooey love affair, complete with romantic duets.
Matz, who was musical director for both Barbra Streisand and Carol Burnett, crafted a rich score informed and inspired by shows from the 1930s to 1950s. The variety is staggering, from slushy ballads to all-out cabaret belts. Laura Medforth, as Hoover’s secretary Helen, who holds a misplaced passion for him for years, is terrific, while Marc Elliott’s Walter Winchell recognises his position in life as the premier root of gossip through songs like “Publicity”.
Choreographer Bill Deamer takes the same period inspiration to develop the show’s dance numbers. “Once Upon A Face” uses the same conceit as the 1934 Warner Bros film Dames number “I Only Have Eyes For You”. Elsewhere, the title song is a riot of G-Men and arrogant conceit for J Edgar and his rising power.
Young John Edgar Hoover is played by a woman, Jess Pratley, making a winning professional debut. The boy John meets the adult J Edgar as he lies on his deathbed, with nurses more interested in their cigarette breaks and upcoming party than his welfare. In a plot opening lifted from It’s a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol young John is here to take his older self back through his life.
It’s a life peppered with incident and name-dropping from the world of Hollywood and New York. Carole Lombard makes a brief appearance, and others are mentioned in passing (Gable, Bogart, Cagney, Dietrich). J Edgar, meeting Tolson in the men’s room, sees a resemblance to Randolph Scott (an actor best known for Western movies, beefcake photos, and being the roommate of Cary Grant). Mrs Hoover, the mother, is compared to silent star Vilma Banky.
It’s all about commodity. Hoover’s hold over four presidents culminates in a quartet number where Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson all lament that they didn’t do anything to stop his ascent (“because we had bigger fish to fry”). There are nods to FDR’s illness being a sham, Ike’s cheating, JFK’s ill-fated trip to Dallas, and LBJ’s Vietnam crisis.
J Edgar Hoover is perhaps presented in a more sentimental way that we would associate with such a divisive and unpleasant bigot; he is more silver fox than the big, bad wolf. When his house of cards collapses in act two, following his visit to a party where deeply closeted conservative men dress as ladies, you almost feel sorry for him. Almost.
Batt and Bolton have excellent chemistry, although at first I was thrown by what appeared to be a significant age difference between them (they met when J Edgar was in his mid-30s; Batt is mid-60s). But this musical covers a lot of ground and time, which becomes apparent very quickly.
The stage of the King’s Head, with audience on three sides and a mock prosenium hosting the band (and Winchell) in the balcony, is well-utilised for Here Comes J Edgar!. Too often, productions play out to the audience directly in front but Josh Seymour‘s direction and Beamer’s choreography ensures this is not the case. I was on the stage left side and the sightlines were excellent.
A note, too, for Nick Lodge’s sound, Jamie Platt‘s lighting, and Tom Paris‘s costumes. All add to the feel of this as event theatre, despite my slight reservations about making a terrible person sympathetic. There are also a few too many jokes about J Edgar’s hidden sexuality, including a physical one that is funny, but has been overused in other productions.
The ensemble are excellent: Judith Owen has a magnificent moment as the Lady in Red who brought down John Dillinger; Alfie Parker is fun as Tony Clownpants (“all the good gangster names had gone”); and Reuben Khan’s Thad offers a sense of J Edgar’s manipulation as he is expected to wear the wrong glasses “to look like John Garfield” (ironically an actor brought down by McCarthyism under the FBI’s watch).
This is a show that deserves to go places, and allows each performer to shine. The band – musical director Luke Holman – are not too loud or strident. The atmosphere is very tongue-in-cheek, the book is pointed and cutting.
I’m giving this four stars.
Here Comes J Edgar: A Comedy Musical continues at the King’s Head Theatre until 16 Aug. Details here.
Photo credit: Mark Douet