And so, the Brave New Workshop has launched its newest show in the tattered little crackerbox at 2605 Hennepin Av. S. The company will move mainstage shows downtown in October, following the conclusion of "Obama Mia," which opened Friday night.
Since 1965 (with a brief hiatus at Calhoun Square), hundreds of actors, writers and musicians have lampooned beauty contests, American history, religion, drugs, the Me Generation, work life, the economy, holidays, love, hate, peace, war, men, women, cats, dogs, fish and fowl -- and likely the kitchen sink.
Despite this diverse history, critics and old-timers have fashioned a narrative mythology that politics is what drives the Brave New Workshop to its finest purpose -- speaking satire to power.
How appropriate, then, that "Obama Mia" should feel like the Workshop's sharpest, most politically rich revue in years. Credit the current environment of public affairs, which contributes daily fodder (state shutdown, "Debt-ageddon," whacked-out candidates and everything Weiner). But credit, also, director Caleb McEwen and his cast for leaving no sacred cow unmilked in their pursuit of this absurd agenda.
Andy Hilbrands, making his Workshop debut, plays President Obama, taking questions from reporters who confuse TV and film images with the reality of a black president. No, Hilbrand's Obama explains, there are no meteors headed for Earth. You're thinking of Morgan Freeman in "Deep Impact." No, Jack Bauer did not rescue him as a senator. That was "24."
Hilbrands is the first African-American actor I've seen at the Workshop since 1999, and that fact itself becomes a self-referential topic as the cast discusses race and who will play what roles.
Ellie Hino gets mileage out of her resemblance to both Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. "Sarah Palin's History 101" starts with Paul Revere's ride in 1492, and rolls through the Civil War between North America and South America.
The cynicism feels like acid when a musical number extols the beauty of being on unemployment -- "the brand new craze that's sweeping through the nation. It's awesome when every day's a vacation."
