''Hillary and Clinton'' is a play written by

Lucas Hnath Lucas Hnath ( ) is an American playwright. He won the 2016 Obie Award for excellence in playwriting for his plays ''Red Speedo'' and ''The Christians''. He also won a Whiting Award. Biography Hnath grew up in Orlando, Florida. He moved to New Yor ...

that premiered in 2016 at the

Victory Gardens Theater Victory Gardens Theater is a theater company in Chicago, Illinois dedicated to the development and production of new plays and playwrights. The theater company was founded in 1974 when eight Chicago artists, Cecil O'Neal, Warren Casey, Stuart Go ...

in Chicago. The play is set in an alternate universe and tells a story centering on

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

's 2008 presidential campaign. After one month of previews, the play opened on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

on April 18, 2019, at the

John Golden Theatre The John Golden Theatre, formerly the Theatre Masque and Masque Theater, is a Broadway theater at 252 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the Golden Theatre was ...

. The Broadway production stars

Laurie Metcalf Laura Elizabeth Metcalf (born June 16, 1955) is an American actress. Often described as a character actor, she's known for her complex and versitile roles across the stage and screen. She has received various accolades throughout her career sp ...

as Hillary Clinton and John Lithgow as

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

Development

''Hillary and Clinton'' was written by

in 2008. Hnath drew inspiration for the play from watching the 2008 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses and how it is conducted, as well as from watching a segment of a voter question to Hillary Clinton a few days afterwards. Hnath described it as "a play about the Clintons that's not a play about the Clintons." During its development stage, the play was workshopped at

's Ignition Festival of New Plays in 2014 then at the Cape Cod Theatre Project in 2015. The first

read-through The read-through, table-read, or table work is a stage of film, television, radio, and theatre production when an organized reading around a table of the screenplay or script by the actors with speaking parts is conducted. In addition to the ca ...

for the Victory Gardens Theater production took place in March 2016. Hnath had asked the original production team not to attempt to cast actors who resembled the real-life individuals they were to play, as he did not want the character portrayals to come across as impressions.

Productions

''Hillary and Clinton'' premiered at the Victory Gardens Theater in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where it was directed by Chay Yew and ran from April 1 to May 1, 2016. Subsequent productions were staged in theaters in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Richmond, and

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

. In all of these pre-

productions,

was portrayed by African-American women.

Broadway

A Broadway production of ''Hillary and Clinton'' was announced in October 2018, and ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' reported that the play had gone through major changes since its original run. The Broadway production is directed by

Joe Mantello Joseph Mantello (born December 27, 1962) is an American actor and director known for his work on Broadway productions of '' Wicked'', '' Take Me Out'', and ''Assassins'', having gained notoriety in the 1993 cast of ''Angels in America''. Early l ...

and stars

as Hillary Clinton and John Lithgow as

. It is produced by

Scott Rudin Scott Rudin (born July 14, 1958) is an American film, television, and theatre producer. His films include the Academy Award-winning Best Picture ''No Country for Old Men,'' as well as '' Uncut Gems'', '' Lady Bird, Fences, The Girl with the Drag ...

, with set design by Chloe Lamford, costume design by Ann Roth, and lighting design by

Hugh Vanstone Hugh Vanstone (born 8 August 1965) is one of the UK’s foremost lighting designers. He has lit more than 160 productions, working in all spheres of live performance lighting, as well as exhibitions and architectural projects. His career has take ...

. Previews began on March 16, 2019, at the

with the official opening on April 18. It is the first Broadway play to feature Hillary Clinton as a leading character. The play closed on June 23, 2019. It was originally scheduled to close on July 21, 2019, but on June 18, 2019, it was announced the show was closing early due to poor ticket sales.Wulfsohn, Joseph A
"Closing Early"
foxnews.com, June 18, 2019

Synopsis

The play takes place in an alternate universe and centers on a woman named Hillary Clinton who is running for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

in 2008. A few days before the New Hampshire primary, Clinton is in her hotel room trying to turn her struggling campaign around. Her campaign manager Mark advises her to concede the primary race and accept her opponent's offer to be his

running mate A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position (such as the vice presidential candidate running with a pr ...

. Against Mark's advice, Clinton turns to her husband Bill for assistance, but the two disagree on how much vulnerability Clinton must show to win over voters.

Cast

Reception

Critical reception to the original Chicago production was mixed. Writing for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'', Chris Jones praised Hnath's "audacious, whip-smart, highly entertaining" writing but was disappointed with the casting choices. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''s Charles Isherwood found the play to be overly restrained, while ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'' felt that ''Hillary and Clinton'' was at its "most interesting" when it looked at the political demands Hillary Clinton has had to deal with due to her gender.

Notes

References

{{Barack Obama 2016 plays American political plays Alternate history plays Broadway plays Works about Hillary Clinton Cultural depictions of Bill Clinton Cultural depictions of Barack Obama 2008 United States presidential election in popular culture