Today is Sunday, October 6, 2024. Today I was in the audience at the Grand Theater, on West 44th Street, cheering on the creation of good friend Rich Herschlag’s production called Dictator for a Day in which he provided the music, lyrics, and prerecorded songs for this musical romp through the life of former president Donald Duck. The subheading for this satire is A MAGA Musical for the Masses. This one- hour-twenty-minute opus to insanity in the form of the former president boasts a strong performance by J-L Cauvin as Donald Trump, Rory Scholl as a singing Donald Trump, and Sammy “The Deuce” Kassin in various roles: Bernie Sanders, Mark Albert, Vinnie from Brooklyn and even TV’s Lieutenant Columbo.

Today marked the last day of the show. As to what will come next, I spoke to Rich after the show and he mentioned that some options are being considered like bringing it on-stream and possibly bringing it to a bigger venue on Broadway. Rich mentioned the services of either Netflix or Amazon Prime airing the show sometime in the near future. The revue opens with a protest from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ urging everyone to leave the theater because of how billionaires have not paid their fair share in taxes, an actual complaint Sanders has of the billionaire class. Soon the stage is taken over by Donald J. Trump himself in the guise of J-L Cauvin who certainly looks the part, replete with a blonde wig, red tie, and dark suit. As far as Trump impersonators go, Cauvin cuts the mustard very well. Some of the kooky song titles are “It’s Not Easy Being God,” “Trump University Fight Song,” which exposes the sham of Trump University, “Jesus Was Born on January 6,” and the one I enjoyed the most, “Trump in a Jumpsuit.” Along with the songs were some very hilarious monologues all expanding on the venality and awfulness of the former president. One of the songs is taken directly from a quote from Trump himself, “Dictator for a Day,” which outlines his campaign of vengeance against his political enemies if he ever – God forbid! – gets back into the White House.

In the audience laughing along with everyone else was Rich’s wife”Sandy,” and his two daughters, “Esther” and “Rebecca.” At the beginning of the show, Rich dedicated the show to his late father, Jack, who just died last year. He thanked his father for his sense of humor and his artistic ability.

The playbill contained these words of caution: “This show contains insults, slurs, jokes & music not suitable for 46% of the US Electorate. Viewer discretion is not advised.” So you have some idea how nutty the show will be and it definitely delivers.

As for the real Dump, if there is such a thing, even, the former president is still being criticized for his “incoherence” at rallies. One recent online RawStory article by Tom Boggioni paints a failing former president in ‘Throes of a final meltdown’: Trump’s recent ‘incoherence’ alarms political observers.”

Now there is a growing concern among political observers that Donald Duck’s well-documented “incoherence” on the stump is alarmingly accelerating.

In interviews with the Guardian’s David Smith, critics of the former insurrectionist are raising alarms that Duck’s penchant for slurring and rambling during his now-frequent rallies rallies indicate he is “in the throes of a final meltdown,” as Smith has put it.

According to American University history professor, Allan Lichtman, “He’s definitely more undisciplined, unhinged and deranged. He’s always had these tendencies but, as he’s gotten older, they’ve become much greater. The Hannibal Lecter stuff or the shark versus electrocution stuff is just insane, just crazy and should be discussed on that basis.”

Lichtman believes it’s what Dump talks about that makes him more dangerous and retrograde, and that we need to stress his extreme racism and misogyny.

For evidence, the Guardian’s Smith noted, “Trump, 78, increasingly slurs or stumbles over his words, raising fears over cognitive decline. He is slipping in polls against Kamala Harris and knows that defeat could lead to criminal trials and even prison.”

Former repugnican and noted Drumpf critic Tara Setmayer warned, “We’re being tested and our democracy is on the line because of what Donald Trump is saying is not just crazy batshittery. It’s dangerous. It’s authoritarian. It’s anti-democratic. It’s the ideology of hostility toward others. In Trump’s mind, we’re all not equal and American voters need to make a decision about the type of country they want to live in and what kind of future they want to leave for their children.”

Returning to the show I just watched on the former president, I wonder how many anti-Trumpers would actually see the play and would even consider changing their vote for Harris instead. I seriously doubt many of them would ever see this show unless they’re able to tune into the show on some streaming service right before the election. Maybe only then would the show be able to attract a much larger audience of undecided or swing voters. So let’s see what happens in the next few weeks.

Anyway, this is how I saw it today!

Have a good week.

And so it goes!

This is the playbill from Elliot’s former student’s show. As you see, today was the last day the show was being presented at the Grand Theater.