A fraternity star is called upon to run for president of the United States when faced with the possibility of an impending fratpocalypse. A ‘nepo baby’ senator’s son and champion of the Green Party must respond when an unexpected threat emerges with the capability of derailing his campaign for reelection. A freshman pledge is forced to play the part of First Lady despite his empty dating resume. Hell, even Tucker Carlson makes a few appearances. You can witness all of this and more in Off-Off-Broadway’s latest political satire, Majority Rules: An American Musical.
Majority Rules, directed by Jillian Hetherman, with music by Charlene Tashnizi and lyrics by Ashley Guan, premiered at the Chain Theatre on Aug. 25. It follows the unlikely presidential campaign of Chad Smith (Daniel Kent), a self-absorbed yet undeniably charismatic super senior and the quintessential embodiment of American fraternity culture. Chad is recruited to run by his ex-girlfriend, Theta Eta Alpha president Claire Kerr (Alex Portaro) following news that Young Green (Matt Doherty), the incumbent presidential candidate and member of the Green Party, plans on incorporating a promise to eradicate Greek life across America into his campaign platform.
In order to legitimize the Smith-Kerr campaign, however, a particular Constitutional amendment requires that Chad finds himself a First Lady, as all presidential candidates are required to have a life partner. Unable to select Claire due to her being his running mate, Chad must make do with Pledge Peter (Peter Buskirk ’29), a timid Alpha Alpha Alpha freshman pledge with absolutely zero experience with relationships — let alone with politics. Together, this rag-tag campaign team must play the part of David against the Goliath that is Young Green’s “progressive” campaign to not only eradicate Greek life but also achieve “true gender equality” by paradoxically reducing the active role of women in society and espousing legislation that treats them as fragile.
It’s truly a breath of fresh air to see that the art of political satire — especially through my personal favorite medium, musical theater — has not been lost. It’s even more powerful in the time of an administration that never fails to depress us with every news article and which has a track record of putting down creators for artistic expression of this exact variety. Yet, not only is it nice to see political satire in general, but to see good political satire. This show is characterized by its clever writing, which sprinkles in humorous moments elevated further by spectacular comedic timing across the cast. Some of the show’s more comedic moments included impersonations of a few of our time’s most controversial (and also mockable) political figures, including Tucker Carlson, Karoline Leavitt and Melania Trump.
Kent’s performance as Chad Smith was another absolute highlight for me. It genuinely seemed like Kent was made for this role, with not a single second on stage wasted in communicating his character’s exaggerated swagger. Not to mention, his powerful baritone vocals made perfect sense for how a hyper-masculine frat guy might sound if you forced him to tell his story through song. Portaro’s portrayal of punctual and proactive Claire Kerr provides a perfect contrast to Chad, whose naive and simplistic nature gets him into trouble at multiple points in the show, often resulting in a need for Claire to interfere in some way to make up for her running mate’s shortcomings. Doherty brought another memorable performance to the table with Young Green’s virtue-signaling facade constantly bursting at the seams as his terribly short temper applied constant pressure from below the surface. I could go on further about the performances in this show, but I truly felt that, between each principal and every last ensemble actor, there wasn’t a single weak link. There was such a vivid energy to this show, and I believe that can be attributed to the cast’s ability to understand and embody their source material in order to bring that forth.
On top of the great performances and source material, two of the cast members are Cornellians, namely Peter Buskirk ’29 who played the role of Pledge Peter, and Matthew Kushner ’29 who played the roles of Mr. Smith, Tucker Carlson and Brady. Buskirk did very well in accentuating his character’s transformation from timid and uncertain to fully owning his role as Chad’s ceremonial ‘life partner’ and becoming a loyal member of the Smith-Kerr campaign team. Kushner’s portrayal of three comedic roles brought some of the show’s most amusing moments, including, of course, his Tucker Carlson impressions.
Laying aside the sheer enjoyability of this show, it's important to acknowledge the thought-provoking takeaways that Hetherman has to offer with regard to the greater political context of our country. “No matter what your viewpoint is with politics, there’s always going to be some sort of dishonesty. Politicians need to appeal to both sides,” Kushner said in an interview. On Chad’s motivations for running for president, he stated, “Over the course of the show, he … realizes how important it is, and the reason why it’s important kind of evolves throughout the show. At first it’s to save Greek Life, and then he has this understanding that it’s more about making sure that Young Green doesn’t stay in office and hinder the rights of women any further.”
“Politicians are incentivized to tell the people they represent exactly what they want to hear, regardless of whether they agree or if it’s truly beneficial to the greater good,” Buskirk said. “After all, the title of the musical is Majority Rules — it’s about doing what’s best for the majority, and in this case, that majority is women.” At its core, this show emphasizes the following truth; amidst all of the flowery language and virtuous appeals we see during election season, it’s important to discern the candidates who truly and unapologetically champion the liberty and equality of all Americans, fighting not to amass political power but out of a desire to give back to their national community and advance it towards a brighter future.
Jordan White is a member of the Class of 2029 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a columnist for the Arts & Culture department and can be reached at jiw39@cornell.edu.
