Theatre review: Here Comes J. Edgar!

With music by Peter Matz and the comedy pedigree of Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold on book and lyrics, Here Comes J Full Stop Edgar Exclamation Mark is a broadly comic attempt to satirise one of the most influential figures in shaping 20th century America: J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI for almost 60 years, but remembered as much for his fondness for wearing drag in his private life, as for the draconian policies he enforced in his public one. In an opening that fully embraces what a hokey cliché it is, Hoover (Bryan Batt) is visited on his deathbed by his younger self (Jess Pratley,) who'll take him through his life story in the form of a 1940s/'50s-style musical. As a child he's the editor of a school newspaper that publishes gossip about the staff and students, and it's an instinct that carries through to his adult life and the way he runs the country's most powerful law enforcement agency.

With the help of gossip columnist Walter Winchell (Marc Elliott) he's able to blackmail successive Presidents including FDR (Alfie Parker,) Eisenhower (Ryan Heenan,) JFK (Reuben Khan) and Johnson (Simon Anthony) into keeping him in his position of power.

Meanwhile his personal life goes against a lot of the conservative values he's publicly fighting for, not least of all his relationship with his Lifetime Assistant Clyde Tolson (Hugo Bolton.) Matz, Shearer and Leopold go for a very arch pastiche of golden age musicals, and Josh Seymour's production leans into it particularly through Bill Deamer's energetic, campy choreography. Also aiming firmly for camp is the comedy, with Edgar and Clyde's relationship quickly settling into the dynamic of a bickering, long-married couple, while Edgar's secretary Helen (Laura Medforth) spends decades obliviously pining over him while he strings her along.

It's an added touch of cruelty for the sake of self-preservation and the show increasingly tries to reflect on what a monster Hoover ultimately is as his actions get more and more extreme: Enthusiastically supporting Senator McCarthy's witch hunts for as long as they increase his own power then ditching him when the tide of opinion turns; even trying to blackmail Martin Luther King into suicide. And all along there's the hypocrisy of his enjoying kickbacks from gangsters while making a name for himself as the scourge of crime; and of course making life harder for queer Americans so he can live his own life in peace.

There's a much darker, more serious play to be made about this side of Hoover but this is resolutely not it, and the little nods at the very real harm he did feel like the show wanting to have its cake and eat it as it cheerfully coasts along on the, admittedly relentless, charm of Batt's central performance: He's giving us lovable rogue, and it's down to the odd supporting character to remind us he's ruining lives as a matter of course.

It’s also one of those musicals that could definitely have done with a few songs being pruned, especially in the second act. Although this does lead to one of the evening’s best gags (“Can you finish your song outside please? I’m busy.”) And every so often there does come along a joke that’s pure laugh-out-loud genius. But a bit too much of it is riding on pure camp, and while it’s always entertaining and well-performed by a surprisingly large cast for a fringe venue, it doesn’t quite have the consistency to elevate it from a worth-a-look to a must-see.

Here Comes J. Edgar! by Peter Matz, Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold is booking until the16th of August at the King’s Head Theatre.

Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Mark Douet.