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If anyone could play Hillary Clinton, it's Laurie Metcalf – and here she is, in Lucas Hnath's "Hillary and Clinton," giving a performance that feels painfully honest and true. And if anyone could catch Bill Clinton's feckless irresistible charm, that would be John Lithgow – and here he is, too. Who is the best of these iconic figures, than director Joe Mantello, who is also on deck.
Barack Obama claims the Democratic nomination for president over Hillary – is that Hnath playwright, Tony nominated for "A Doll's House, Part 2," has brought nothing of substance to the table. The characters stand up. The language is strong. But like Claudius' earnest prayer to his resolutely unimpressed God in "Hamlet," said nothing by the party of the heavens.
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Glenda Jackson has been watching these characters in a play of not knowing they are characters in a play: "They're just living their lives." Hnath would like to honor that fiction here. Do not imitate the "real" Hillary and Bill, he says in a program note. Pretend you've never heard of the Clintons. Create entirely new characters. (Lots of luck with that.)
The play opens in 2008 in New Hampshire, where not-Clinton and Obama are slugging it out for the nomination. And while not-Obama (a shaky Peter Francis James) makes a surprise move, the focus is on not-Hillary and not-Bill, who are at odds on the best political tactics for prevailing in the primaries and snagging the appointment.
In a speech directed at the audience, Hillary keeps flipping a corner while ruminating on the existential possibility that the reality she's living is not necessarily the only reality in the universe. She 's lagging behind Obama in the polls and playing with the notion that it may be, in some other world in this universe of possibilities, she will be able to do this, in New Hampshire. (Now that's a play I really want to see.)
"I've been campaigning for close to a year now. I have not slept. I'm tired. I'm very tired. "Metcalf, who is dressed in baggy comfort-clothes by Rita Ryack, looks like she's exhausted. Running for president is no country for old men or middle-aged women who need their sleep, so Hillary has a heart-to-heart with her campaign manager, Josh, played like a proper cheerleader by Zak Orth. She needs money, she needs poll numbers, she needs encouragement, she needs sleep.
Josh explains that being the underdog is actually working for her. "So I'm losing a strategy?" She snaps back at him. Snap, snap, snap. For a while, Hnath gets away with the friendly characters and their snappy dialogue. But it's inevitable that Hillary would give in to her basic political instincts and call Bill for help.
"He's good where he is, which is far from here," says Josh, who managed to kick the bad boy ex-president off the campaign and into the wilderness. But it's obvious that it's going, and we're all thrilled when Bill (safer, saunter through the door). Surely that's the signal that something will happen in this static play. Aim, no, this Bill person turns out to be just another mouthpiece for clever chit-cat.
"When you start to lose, you pull out," Bill advises his wife. "Pull out fast. Do not linger. People linger. People get up there, they linger and they die. Then they rot. They rot in public. Do not let them see you rot. "
Besides pulling off terrific political pep talks like that, Hnath also gets intimate rates of a close couple's domestic rhythms, and Metcalf lets and Lithgow have their fun. But what about us? Where's our fun? In an alternate reality, surely Hillary would be Queen of the Universe and Bill would be picking up a golden chariot. Let's see that play.
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