By: James Fagan, Staff Photographer
Of Thee I Sing opened on the shows cast singing behind the viewers at the top of the auditorium, urging the viewers to “vote for Wintergreen,” the recently elected presidential candidate of an unnamed party. John P. Wintergreen is an outspoken, passionate man who truly wishes to do the right thing. Soon into the first scene the character Alexander Throttlebottom, the candidate for Vice President is introduced. Alexander Throttlebottom is meant to be a nasally voiced, forgettable person.
Once the show gets under way, the presidential candidate and his would-be-presidential-cabinet gather in a hotel room to try to decide what platform they should run on to try and get John P. Wintergreen elected. Soon a maid comes into the hotel room, so the politicians in the room ask what she cares about, and while she initially says money, after further prompting, she decides she most cares about love. Upon hearing this the gathered politicians decide that Wintergreen’s presidential platform will be love. The cabinet then puts together a competition to find the most beautiful women in the United States, the winner of this competition would then marry John P. Wintergreen. As this competition is culminating, John P. Wintergreen falls in love with and proposes to Mary Turner, a woman who was not a candidate in the aforementioned competition. The first act ends with Wintergreen publicly proposing in New York, the 48th state in which he’s done so, and winning the presidential election.
Eventually one of the participants of the beauty contest,Diana Devereaux, decides that she wants to sue the president, as she feels she has been robbed of a position as first lady in the White House. The president obviously says that he won’t marry her, as he is already married to Mary Turner. Eventually a French ambassador storms into the White House, claiming that if he refuses to marry Diana then France and the United States shall go to war, as Diana is “the illegitimate daughter of an illegitimate son of an illegitimate nephew of Napoleon. Upon hearing this the senate tries to impeach Wintergreen due to the ensuing controversy. The senate eventually decides to stop trying to impeach Wintergreen once they hear that Mary Turner is pregnant, however, France still threatens war. Wintergreen solves this problem by stating that if a president can’t fulfill their duties, then their vice president must, so it is decided that Diana Devereaux will marry Alexander Throttlebottom.
I credit this show for having a note that is supposed to be read by the director before it starts essentially saying that it was a product of its time, and should be seen as such. However, the show still ends with the “beautiful women falling in love with a pathetic man” stereotype. And while it is done in a way that is relevant to the plot, it still gives to that stereotype. Overall, Of Thee I Sing was a very good show, and if you like realistic fiction with an air of comedy, I would definitely recommend seeing this play if possible.