While it may not seem that way right now, one of the things that I personally love about America is reveling in its mythology. In particular, I enjoy looking at a story of the various presidents and finding those moments when the policy was put aside in favor of something more resembling humanity. It’s where suddenly the old adage becomes true, in which everyone has a chance to succeed, pushing themselves beyond their expectations to become icons of history. It’s the small moments where you look beyond ideology and realize what makes this country great. It’s the idea of a diverse pool of thought being brought together in a form of compromise that may sometimes be difficult but helps to shape history more than even they’ll realize.
In the world of musicals, there is something to be said about the shows that bring in presidents. With exception to Hamilton, a lot of them have been more abstract and confrontational, finding the audience having to grapple with the very idea of freedom. Compared to something like Assassins, Hamilton is a safe bet, not having to create moral questions in tangent to figures that history has told us to love. While I haven’t listened to Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, I’m very sure it’s just as complicated with how it explores the history of this country.
Which makes First Ladies Suite a particularly odd beast. On the surface, it sounds like a perfect show for me. Back when Pablo Larrain’s Jackie (2016) was released, I have this naïve desire to see more First Ladies receive the biopic treatment. I still believe that Betty Ford has a great movie in her story. The same can be said for Eleanor Roosevelt, who probably has a whole miniseries worth of stories to get into. I’m obsessed with the idea of making the future full of these stories of women who were just as important to history, even if they feel sidelined in a lot of generalized textbooks.
That is what drew me to Michael John LaChiusa’s libretto. With The Democratic National Convention now behind us, it felt thematically relevant to explore musicals that tackle the endgame. While the men have gunned for the top spot, very few stories have been made into fantastical entertainment about the women by their side, eagerly cheering them on as they reach a success that only 45 men have acquired before. Women, in a conventional sense, are the supportive backbone to the president, and yet they rarely get the recognition that they deserve.
To be totally honest, listening to the 2003 recording of the 1993 Off-Broadway show is a bit disconcerting. Much like In Trousers, the show has a limited budget that becomes abundantly clear when listening to the “orchestra,” better known as a piano eagerly beating out every note. It’s not that it sounds like novelty, but it’s hard to create a strong musical range of emotion when hitting a limited amount of keys. To me, the 90-minute show on CD is a bit tedious and very much reflective of a style that I don’t easily love.
It also doesn’t help that, vocally, a lot of the singers have a jaunty pitch that rarely has the range that would make the songs better. Also, LaChiusa’s lyrics aren’t always the most inspired. I’m aware that this show is likely entirely sung-through, but it plays into a style of music that I don’t care for. It’s where the plot is sung in such a way that it feels obvious. While it helped me to follow the story easily, it irritated me to realize that I wasn’t as big on any of the songs, wishing for a bit more of a subtext that could make half of these brilliant and deserving of their structure. Given that LaChiusa is a person who is known for “musically esoteric shows,” I think that he succeeded. I just wish that I could call him an inspired discovery.
As the title suggests, this is a show that gets the audience close and personal with the First Ladies of the United States. The opening features an African American woman singing as First Lady, preceding Michelle Obama by 15 years. It’s a hopeful and inspired touch, doing everything to piece together history to the present in such a way that feels progressive and even relevant to the moment. As “Opening” would suggest, these women were there on election night, dealing with booze and cigarettes feeling good for them, not realizing how greatly their lives were about to be changed.
What if we took some time to hear their story? The show decides to focus on (in this order) Jacqueline Kennedy, Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman, and Eleanor Roosevelt. That’s an eclectic mix of talent right there, spanning several significant decades that pull from World War II up through the early 60s. It’s an interesting idea to use this as a chance to see how the idea of female leadership has evolved in that time by personalizing their journeys and making them seem like everyday heroes, sacrificing their privacy in order to better their country.
In reality, this is the extent of their connection. There’s no small “a-ha!” moment where suddenly the tale of Eisenhower dovetails into Kennedy. “Cloud Atlas” this is not. At best it is a love letter to history in such a way that is noteworthy and makes me wonder what this story would look like if there was more insight not only into the individual but their contributions writ-large as if handing down a metaphorical quilt of history to the next First Lady. What will they stitch onto it? There are traces of that here, but at the end of the day, they’re all just short stories presented in a libretto, anthology style.
The first story, Over Texas, features Kennedy talking to her secretary Evelyn Lincoln (no relation) about a demanding employer. They’re flying around in Air Force One during this time and there’s a lot of airplane imagery scattered throughout the songs. It’s a decent enough story, but it becomes clear what some of the unfortunate issues are. A lot of the singers share similar registers, meaning that most First Ladies all sound the same with little differentiation. While they have moments of humorous personality, it all feels done with this campy enthusiasm that is hokey, reflective of a more innocent and bright-eyed form of musicals that generations since have unfortunately shelved.
There’s humor, sure, but it has a “golly gee whiz” vibe about it that becomes insufferable when that’s the only tone it has for most of them. We’re all excited to meet Kennedy, and that is something that is as true of the remaining subjects. I wish that this show got a fuller orchestra, if just because Over Texas is arguably the most redundant of the group and blends too much with the second story, Where’s Mamie?, at first that it all sounds like a giant mess. These high pitched gals are talented and there are interesting ideas, but I’d love for this show to have more of a focus.
With that said, Where’s Mamie? turns things around in the latter half, when it focuses on a marital affair. It’s a time travel story in which Eisenhower looks back on her love for Dwight and wishes that he wouldn’t participate in an affair. It gets a bit emotional, and maybe produces the best moments in the show. When it’s about romance and humanity, the show makes perfect sense. It isn’t hearing Dwight talk about Civil Rights being ignored, it’s songs like “Tomorrow I Will Love You More” that the show makes a bit of sense, such as when he speaks about loving his wife once they leave the office and have a simple retirement. It’s simple, it’s poignant, it’s solid.
The same can’t be said for songs like “Kitty Cat Nap,” which would work in a more layered show but here is another off-putting number about Jacqueline checking in on her daughter Caroline sleeping. It’s cute, especially as she goes on about why they can’t have a cat in The White House. The antagonism is fun, making you see the humanity and familiarity of these characters. These are mothers who have personal lives that they care about, and we all will recognize it if we saw it. Even the third story, Olio, finds Truman having a competitive relationship with her daughter Margaret.
I suppose there’s THAT aspect of the show that transcends the decades and narratives, piecing together history in a janky pattern. There’s plenty of small endearing moments to make, but this feels like a feature-length version of that Merrily We Roll Along song “Bobby and Jackie and Jack” that intentionally feels hollow, focusing on how silly the First Family is and having forced laugh lines. The difference is that maybe I’m trying too much for this to be a Stephen Sondheim show, which would make every line pop with deeper meaning. Even then, that explains why this is an Off-Broadway show and nothing more, existing as an obscure oddity that may have one or two covers on YouTube, but doesn’t have much else going for its legacy.
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The finale, Eleanor Sleeps Here, is maybe the most jarring of stories when you get down to it. While I would love to see a movie about Roosevelt’s time with Amelia Earheart, this is a frantic yet redundant part that uses plane imagery to allude to a variety of themes. The most connecting is Roosevelt’s own independence, as it’s believed that her learning to fly wouldn’t be right. However, there are lines that honestly convince me that there’s some romantic affection between them. It’s a closeted kind of lesbianism if it is that, but there’s so much that feels like it’s saying that Roosevelt, literally, needs to soar. She needs to not let others tell her what to do.
Considering that she’s the oldest name on this list and ends the show, that is the connecting tissue, again about women learning how to handle their new position. If I’m being honest, I do love the stories and what they symbolize, but the execution doesn’t strike me as an interesting musical. It gets to the point, but I am disheartened by how much it lacks a deeper purpose in its lyrics. It’s the type of music that goes “this leads to that and I feel this way,” and ends with some sort of whimsical quip. It’s fine, but again I want to believe this show has more weight with an orchestra or even a stage accompaniment.
That is the thing. I am mostly judging shows without the stage that enhances the worst of songs into art. I am aware that this is only half the story. Still, I love musicals because of how they can convey stories through song. I don’t like them to be entirely literal and prefer to have entendre and allusion that only strikes you later, maybe even on a second experience. After listening to First Ladies Suite once, I am pretty sure that I know everything that this show is doing sonically, and I wouldn’t like it if I didn’t have an affection for watching presidential biopics and collecting campaign stories for my own amusement.
During an election year, I feel like media that reflects what the office symbolizes to the greater public are essential. It’s entertainment that reminds us of why this country is special. It gives us pride and we all must rise to the challenge because there isn’t a time where a leader is not needed. The First Lady story is one that continues to fascinate me and makes me hope that there are other better shows out there that will fill in the gaps and make them more endearing figures, like how Hamilton essentially made Hercules Mulligan into a household name. That is what the potential art can do, elevating a perceived supporting cast to something greater. With that said, I am not ready to talk about Soft Power. It’s a good show, but 2016 is still an open wound in our collective consciousness.
With that said, I don’t hate First Ladies Suite. It’s decent and I could be persuaded to watch a stage version. With that said, the recording is tedious, and being piano-driven doesn’t always work in its favor. I wish that LaChuisa was a more charismatic lyricist here, but I can admire the heart he put into it. Maybe additional listens, or even observing as individual stories, might help the show to grow.
Though, if I can be transparent at the end here, this is all an excuse for me to check out his spiritual sequel, First Daughters Suite, which features one of my favorite things: Amy Carter singing to Susan Ford. I HAVE to know what this show’s about because it sounds adorable to take one of the meekest First Daughters in history and give her a lot of numbers. Even if I feel a bit underwhelmed now, you best believe that I have my sights high that LaChiusa does something even more entertaining. I can only hope for now.
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