EXCLUSIVE: Ghost Of John McCain, the new, upcoming Off Broadway musical satire that finds the late Senator in a very, very strange heaven, has found its cast for characters that include McCain, Donald Trump, Donald Trump’s brain and the just-added Kamala Harris.
An example: Luke Kolbe Mannikus, a handsomely baby-faced recent college grad with no fewer than three Broadway credits since his fairly recent childhood a decade ago, will play Donald Trump.
Jason Tam, who played the apostle Peter in the hit NBC Live event Jesus Christ Superstar, and starred in Broadway’s Be More Chill, will play John McCain, and Aaron Michael Ray (The Public Theater’s acclaimed The Low Road), will play Donald Trump’s Brain.
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And reflecting swift-moving real-world developments, Zonya Love has just been added to the cast as Kamala Harris.
Ghost of John McCain will preview Tuesday September 3 at the Soho Playhouse ahead of its official opening on Tuesday, September 24. The limited engagement runs through Sunday, November 10.
Featuring a book by Scott Elmegreen and a score by Drew Fornarola, Ghost of John McCain is billed as “An uproarious exploration of power, rivalry, and the human condition” and “the ticket we need during the election cycle from hell.” The musical was co-conceived by the late Grant Woods, McCain’s first chief of staff (and later eulogist) and Arizona Attorney General from 1991 to 1999. He died in 2021.
The premise finds McCain as he enters the afterlife where “he finds that ‘heaven’ is inside Trump’s brain.” In addition to the primary characters, the musical features Greek Chorus-style characters including Hillary Clinton, Roy Cohn, Eva Perón, Teddy Roosevelt, Robert Jordan, Lindsey Graham, George W. Bush, Tiffany Trump, Grizabella from Cats, Barack Obama, Kanye West, Grant Woods, Elizabeth Warren, Taylor Swift, Joe Biden, Sarah Palin, Eric Trump, and Clint Eastwood, all of whom rebel against former President Trump’s “relentless demands for affirmation.”
Directed by Catie Davis, producers are political strategist and public relations executive Jason Rose, Lynn Londen, and longtime John McCain campaign consultant Max Fose.
The production landed in some controversy last spring when, after Deadline broke the news about the upcoming musical, McCain’s daughter, former conservative co-host of The View Meghan McCain, lashed out at the producers, posting on X, “This is trash” and “nothing more than a gross cash grab by mediocre desperate people…I hope it bombs.”
The producers responded by inviting McCain and her husband Ben Domenech to attend a reading of the musical before it opens Off Broadway, with producers Rose and Fose adding, “We think they will love it, just as audiences have to date.”
Producer Rose tells Deadline, “Meghan McCain has not seen any readings of the production and to our knowledge has not read the script.”