“Clinton the Musical” Looks Back, Just in Time for 2016

ABC News(WASHINGTON) — Hillary Clinton is expected to make her plans to run for president in 2016 official at any moment. And this week, she’s hitting the stage, with Bill by her side, for her debut in a new starring role — but not the one you think.

These two Washington royals invite you to join them not for Hillary’s long-anticipated announcement, but instead to watch as they sing and dance their way through the drama of the infamously scandal-clad Clinton White House, laughing all the way.

But don’t expect the real-life Hillary and Bill Clinton showing off their acting chops. In the new off-Broadway play Clinton the Musical, the professional actors depict the trials and tribulations of the former president and first lady for a live audience. And in its comedic fictional account of the 1990s Clinton White House, Hillary has not one, but two Bills to deal with.

“Billy is a kid at heart…[he] is the side of us that we try to keep hidden. Sometimes his choices get him into trouble,” explained Duke Lafoon, who plays “Billy Clinton,” a character meant to represent the lecherous, trouble-making, and perhaps more immature traits of the 42nd president.

“W.J., I would say he’s more of the politician, more of the public face,” added Tom Galantich, who plays the role of “William Jefferson” or “W.J.,” the serious, more image-conscious side of the musical’s two-sided Bill Clinton character.

While the real former president has yet to share his feelings on his wife’s likely bid for the Democratic nomination, Billy and W.J. didn’t shy away from expressing what they think their respective Bill Clinton characters would have to say on the matter.

“Billy Clinton’s just happy that she’s out of the house…[he] can have more fun that way,” Lafoon joked.

“I guess there are some faces there I don’t mind seeing again, if you know what I mean,” he added, presumably nodding to President Clinton’s affair with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Also in character, Galantich added as W.J., “Aside from myself, Hillary’s probably the best person for the job…if you look at all the candidates.” On whether he’s interested in a second stint in the White House, Galantich added with a sarcastic chuckle, “Perhaps, in one way or another — but we’ve got so much going on that I probably have to stay up in Chappaqua and take care of business there.”

The Monica Lewinsky affair plays a central role in the musical, which features characters involved in the real-life scandal, such as former Vice President Al Gore, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, then-special prosecutor for Clinton’s impeachment trial Ken Starr and, of course, Monica Lewinsky.

A spokesman for the Clintons did not immediately respond to a request for comment and it’s unclear whether the former president and secretary of state are even aware of the musical.

Although the musical pokes fun at a difficult, trying period for the Clintons under the national spotlight, the actors insisted their intentions are to make humor out of that moment in time, not to present a political stand on the pair.

“I think most of the play is a loving roast to all the people involved,” Lafoon said. “This is not meant to make any grand political statement we’re just having fun up there.”

Added Galantich, “Absolutely, [we’re] equal opportunity satirists.”

As for Hillary, actress Kerry Butler mirrored the light-hearted sentiment of her two faux-husbands, even divulging that before playing Hillary on stage, she volunteered for Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.

“I was just manning the phones, calling up people, asking them to donate, and it was fun,” she said. “People are really nice when you’re calling other Democrats.”

While Butler said it wasn’t a role she ever imagined playing, after months of rehearsing in character for the musical’s grand opening at the New World Stages in Manhattan April 9, she has mastered her impression of the former secretary of state, even down to her laugh.

“I started doing her moves…she’s in me now,” Butler said.

And just like the actors who play the two sides of her fictional husband, Butler shared her take on the expected 2016 Clinton presidential run, declaring “she’s ready.”

“She knows what she has to do now, she’s had all this time, she’s developed all this hard skin to get through this stuff…now I think she knows she has to show her softer side,” she explained.

“I think she’s going to do well,” Butler later added.

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