At the Kavinoky, Women Go Wild in the White House

The title of the Kavinoky’s latest production, “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” is comically long and not exactly correct. Yes, it features seven women doing what women historically have been called upon to do: Taking care of business while male figureheads take all the credit. 

They aren’t, however, trying to keep the Dumbass alive so much as they are trying to keep their jobs, explain away embarrassing behavior and, eventually, cover their behinds. The premise seems to be that women can be as ambitious, resentful, deceitful and vulgar as any man. 

If that is intended as a feminist take on power and the patriarchy, it sails well wide of the mark. 

The same goes for playwright Selina Fillinger’s prolific use of a crude profanity still considered pretty vile in American usage (and yes, we know it’s different in Great Britain). Having the president’s chief of staff ejaculate the word as her opening line could be taken as attention-grabbing. But then the women in charge can’t stop saying it. Over and over.  

Perhaps Fillinger intends this to be ironic; maybe the overuse is a designed to liberate women from gendered language oppression. Or perhaps it is just off-putting. It was for me. 

That being said, “POTUS” has its upsides. There is not a weak link in the seven-woman cast. The performances are rock-solid, as is the uninhibited physical comedy. There are laugh-out-loud funny scenes as well as the cringy ones. 

The truth is, Lisa Ludwig and Camilla Maxwell are so effective as the president’s underappreciated subordinates that they could signal their authority in PG-13 language if they wanted and nobody would miss the NC-17s. 

Not surprisingly Arin Lee Dandes is a scene-stealer extraordinaire as the president’s insecure secretary, and Vernia Sharisse Garvin, who recently ruled as Queen Hermoine in “The Winter’s Tale” in Delaware Park, is once again a formidable first lady. 

There are also three “outsiders” caught up in the White House hijinks: Aleks Malejs adds a wink and a swagger to the role of the president’s wayward lesbian sister. Shannell Dixon is suitably fraught as a reporter/mom fighting to keep her premium political beat. And Maria Pedro is a fab flake as the “bimbo eruption” whose appearance threatens to upend the already rocking boat.

The action begins to trip over itself, though, when these tell-it-like-it-is women are faced with a significant crisis. As someone (probably a man) once said, “the first casualty of war is the truth,” and so it is here. 

In true presidential fashion, they arrange an epic cover-up, which works out as well as one would expect. 

The Kavinoky opened its 45^th anniversary season with a jubilant production of the Disney musical “Newsies” at Shea’s 701 Main. To continue the celebration, it has scheduled a variety of shows for a variety of audiences, including Rajiv Joseph’s basketball-themed “King James” in November and the Neil Simon musical “Sweet Charity” next spring.

But, in case it isn’t already clear, “POTUS” is not “Newsies,” and not for kids. 

Consider it to be more in the order of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross,” only a comedy, and set in Washington not Chicago, and with women, not salesmen. If that sounds good to you (and high-def profanity doesn’t make your ears ring), “POTUS” might be the ticket. 

If not, in another kind of comedy, two elderly women are bumping off lonely old men out at the Lancaster Opera House in “Arsenic and Old Lace,” also through Oct. 20. We’ll have that review soon.

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“POTUS” runs through Oct. 20 at D’Youville Kavinoky Theatre, 320 Porter Ave. (entrance on Prospect), with shows Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 3:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $49; $45 for seniors; $35 for military and veterans, at kavinokytheatre.com. 

The Kav includes this content warning: “POTUS: or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive” contains intense adult themes, strong language, mentions of drugs and alcohol.