The London stage is giving us the quite the crash course in American politics right now — at least through a glitzily cockeyed lens.
With Mary Todd Lincoln stirring up shit on the West End, Here Comes J. Edgar! brings us the story of the puissant FBI director, with added jazz hands. And let’s not beat about the bush: the real carrots here are the two comedy vets behind the script; Tom Leopold (who wrote for Seinfeld and Cheers) and Harry Shearer — Spinal Tap’s Derek Smalls, and the man behind a shedload of Simpsons characters.
Brits will know a smattering about Hoover, the director of the FBI who went power-crazed, and dug his heels in (literally, if the crossdressing rumours are to be believed), grasping onto the role for almost half a century. You needn’t know much more in order to enjoy Here Comes J. Edgar!, which riffs on the spouse-like relationship between Hoover (played almost too adorably by Mad Men’s Bryan Batt), and his ‘lifetime assistant’ Clyde Tolsen (Hugo Bolton; also brilliant). Clyde wants a cat. J. Edgar wants unchecked power. Mr Burns and Smithers spring to mind, probably no coincidence, given that Shearer voices both.
At their best, the musical numbers are as touching as they are witty. Once Upon a Face has Hoover dancing amid a sea of fans printed with Clyde’s bespectacled visage. The lines zing (“If you’re Victor, then I must be the spoils). A cameo from Judith Owen as a flamboyant brothel keeper pining for the cornfields of Indiana is the surprise hit of the night.
Thinking about it, Here Comes J. Edgar! is the kind of musical that used to crop up on The Simpsons (who can forget Planet of the Apes and its “Dr. Zaius! Dr. Zaius!”). All very chucklesome, except those lasted a few seconds, whereas — even with a runtime of two hours plus interval — Here Comes J. Edgar! still can’t convince us what’s propelling the antihero’s insidious coup d’état. Maybe it should learn the lesson that the machiavellian FBI director never did, and quit while it’s ahead.
Here Comes J. Edgar! A Comedy Musical, King’s Head Theatre, 17 July-16 August 2026
