Theater Review: ‘Five,’ The Parody Musical… Or The Five Angry Women of Donald Trump

King Henry VIII may have had six wives (divorced, beheaded, died, … well you know what happened), but former President Donald Trump has five angry women.
That cohort is the basis of the musical “Five,“ a show that wants to Make America Funny Again, something we can abbreviate as MAFA. Sounds catchy, no? Perhaps on red baseball caps?
The comedy musical revue puts the spotlight on five of the women in the life of former President Donald Trump, namely Ivana (Anyae Anasia, the first wife, divorced); Marla (Gabriella Joy Rodriguez, the second wife, divorced); Melania (jaime Lyn Beatty, the current and long suffering third wife who was quite happy to remain back in New York City while her newly elected husband moved to Washington); Stormy Daniels (Gabi Garcia, the porn star mistress who is at the center of a case in which Trump is charged with 34 felony counts); and Ivanka (Hannah Bonnett, daddy’s little girl and self-proclaimed JAP, or Jewish American Princess).
“Five” of course is a parody of the hit musical “Six,” which presents the six wives of Henry VIII in the style of a pop concert slash singing competition. Each of the wives – Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr – takes a turn at telling her story in the competition to determine who suffered the most while married to the king. (Hint: since several were beheaded, they might have a leg, or head, up in winning).
The premise of “Five” follows the story arch of “Six”, had “Six” taken place today on Long Island: They show up atRonkonkoma’s public access TV station studio for a debate – on a patriotically designed red, white, and blue set by David Goldstein –  to decide who had it the worst with the Donald, with the audience to vote.
As in “Six,” the five women introduce themselves through biographical pop songs and explain the goal of the evening before bursting into song.
These include Ivana’s “You Veel Always Love Me” from Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” and Marla’s “Un-popular” from “Wicked”’s “Popular”. Melania’s “Everything Was Better with Potato” is clearly from “A Chorus Line”’s “Everything Was Beautiful at the Ballet”; Stormy’s “Storm’s Comin’ In” borrows heavily from “Paint Your Wagon”‘s “There’s a Coach Comin’ In”; and Ivanka’s “Kiss Me Daddy One More Time” is a parody of “Hit Me Baby One More Time” from Britney Spears’ “Once Upon a One More Time.”
Each woman managed to maintain her own signature style in Florence D’Lee’s excellent character-capturing costumes.
To see how well the parody works, there was even a test case in the audience,  the Republican couple in front of us that evening. They raised their hands when one of the wives asked at the beginning if any Republicans were present and they were told they could stay anyway since they had already paid for their tickets.
They stormed off mid-show yelling “this is horrible,” cementing the thought in my mind that they, too, were part of the cast. Either that, or they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into.
The mostly fast-paced show was directed and choreographed by Jen Wineman, and the writing team of Shimmy Braun and Moshiel Newman Daphna ( book and lyrics) and Billy Reece (music) has truly created a parody worth seeing.
Along the way, some truly amusing surprises pop up, but we’ll avoid any spoilers, including what a possible unnamed former secretary of state and presidential candidate who truly is Trump’s nemesis (in addition to judges, prosecutors, and the women of “Five”).
The show has only been extended to April 21, so you should run and catch it in case it’s not extended further, unless you’re a card-carrying and hat-wearing MAGA member, of course.
THE DETAILS
Five
Limited engagement through April 21, 2024
Theater 555
555 West 42nd Str.
New York, N.Y. 10036
www.fivethemusical.com
 
(Photo: Accura Media Group)