Rap Master Ronnie

Last updated

Rap Master Ronnie is the name of several musical comedies developed by Garry Trudeau and Elizabeth Swados throughout the 1980s, including a 1984 off-Broadway "partisan revue," a music video, and a made for TV movie starring The Smothers Brothers, Carol Kane, and Jon Cryer. The shows all share the same basic structure of a faux campaign ad for Ronald Reagan, satirizing his social policies, particularly those regarding drugs and minorities. The shows received largely mixed reviews.

Contents

Background

Garry Trudeau was a vocal critic of Reagan throughout his presidency, and devoted considerable space in his comic strip Doonesbury to attacking his policies, administration, and Reagan himself. In the early 1980s, Trudeau took a hiatus from the strip to write Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy , a Broadway show that brought an end to many of the strip's long running story lines in anticipation of rebooting it in a format that eliminated its floating timeline and allowed the characters to age and grow. In addition to the play's narrative, it also featured several self-contained sketches satirizing the Reagan administration; after the play closed, Trudeau and Swados decided to expand on the sketches and turn them into their own show, timing the release to the 1984 presidential election. [1]

A music video was produced in conjunction with the play, to be used as a satirical fundraising tape by the San Francisco Democratic Party. The video was shot on location in Washington, D.C., and featured professional Reagan impersonator Robert H. Schmidt as well as several break dancers credited as "The Doonesbury Break Crew". [2]

In 1985, the play was revived in Los Angeles. [3]

Four years later, as Reagan's presidency drew to a close, Swados and Trudeau updated the show as a made for TV movie that aired on late night Cinemax in 1988 as part of the network's comedy programming block "Cinemax Comedy Experiment." This version was titled "Rap Master Ronnie: A Report Card". [4]

Plot summary

The play is presented as sixteen interlinking musical numbers, each attacking some political position of Reagan's or examining the effects Reaganomics had on the American economy and culture of the 1980s. The story is presented within a frame narrative of Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Edwin Meese, and several Secret Service agents (who serve as the chorus) taking a limo into the inner city to film a campaign ad encouraging blacks to vote for him. [1] Despite the title, only the opening number is performed in the style of old-school hip hop, with the remainder of the songs being 1980s style pop.

Casts

Off-Broadway cast

Music video

Film cast

Reception

The play received generally mixed to positive reviews. The New York Times praised the more overtly satirical numbers, particularly those related to Reagan's job policies and views on women's rights, but criticized Trudeau's efforts to be more serious, calling them "more sincere than compelling". The Times also criticized the play's portrayal of minorities, calling them "abstractions, not characters." [1] Conversely, the television movie was negatively reviewed, with the Los Angeles Times calling it "incessantly unfunny" and criticizing the show for reusing the same jokes that several other comedians had been using about Reagan for years, without enough original material or insights. [4]

The Simpsons 1994 episode "Homer Loves Flanders" parodies the show as "Rappin' Ronnie Reagan," a novelty song that Homer owns on cassette tape. The show is referenced again in the episode "Lisa on Ice", with Kent Brockman delivering a sensationalized news headline: "President Reagan dyes... his hair, says Garry Trudeau in his new musical comedy revue!"

Related Research Articles

Doonesbury is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, Michael Doonesbury, who has progressed from a college student to a youthful senior citizen over the decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garry Trudeau</span> American cartoonist (born 1948)

Garretson Beekman Trudeau is an American cartoonist, best known for creating the Doonesbury comic strip. Trudeau is also the creator and executive producer of the Amazon Studios political comedy series Alpha House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smothers Brothers</span> American singers, musicians and comedians

The Smothers Brothers are Thomas and Richard, American folk singers, musicians, and comedians. The brothers' trademark double act was performing folk songs, which usually led to arguments between them. Tommy's signature line was "Mom always liked you best!" Tommy acted "slow" and Dick, the straight man, acted "superior".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uncle Duke</span> Comics character

Uncle Duke is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau. He is nominally Zonker Harris's uncle, albeit an "uncle by courtesy" only. Duke appeared in the strip July 1974 and was originally a straightforward caricature of the gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, but eventually took on a life of his own and a succession of ill-fated ventures in the areas of politics, business and crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Slackmeyer</span> Comics character

Mark Sheldon Slackmeyer is a character in the comic strip Doonesbury.

Jacques Levy was an American songwriter, theatre director and clinical psychologist.

Michael James "Mike" Doonesbury is the main character in Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury. He started out as a nerdish freshman from Tulsa at the fictional Walden College, and shared a dorm room with B.D. Currently he is married to Kim Rosenthal, and divorced from J.J. Caucus. Mike's daughter, Alex continued to live with Mike and Kim, until she left to attend MIT. He has a younger brother, Benjamin, and a widowed mother who died in late 2010.

B. D. (<i>Doonesbury</i>) Fictional character

B.D. is a fictional character in Garry Trudeau's popular comic strip Doonesbury. In the comic strip, nobody is certain what "B.D." is short for, but he was based on Brian Dowling, quarterback at Yale University, where Trudeau attended college. In the 1983 stage adaptation of the strip, Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy, his full name was revealed to be Brian John Dowling.

Jimmy Thudpucker is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury, created by Garry Trudeau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roland Hedley</span> Comics character

Roland Burton Hedley, III is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau, inspired by the on-air style of the veteran US reporter Sam Donaldson.

Ron Headrest is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury.

<i>Doonesbury</i> (musical) 1983 Broadway musical

Doonesbury, also known as Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy, is a 1983 musical with a book and lyrics by Garry Trudeau and music by Elizabeth Swados.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Headroom</span> Fictional British character

Max Headroom is a fictional character played by actor Matt Frewer. Advertised as "the first computer-generated TV presenter", Max was known for his biting commentary on a variety of topical issues, arrogant wit, stuttering, and pitch-shifting voice. The character was created by George Stone, Annabel Jankel, and Rocky Morton. Max was advertised as "computer-generated" and some believed this, but he was actually actor Frewer wearing prosthetic makeup, contact lenses, and a plastic molded suit, and sitting in front of a blue screen. Harsh lighting and other editing and recording effects heighten the illusion of a CGI character. According to his creators, Max's personality was meant to be a satirical exaggeration of the worst tendencies of television hosts in the 1980s who wanted to appeal to youth culture yet weren't a part of it. Frewer proposed that Max reflected an innocence, largely influenced not by mentors and life experience but by information absorbed from television.

Frank Condon, MA, MFA, is a playwright and theatrical production director, the founding Artistic Director of River Stage, in Sacramento, California, and a professor of theatre at Cosumnes River College. Condon is best known for bringing controversial plays to the theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Swados</span> American musical theater writer, composer, and director (1951–2016)

Elizabeth Swados was an American writer, composer, musician, and theatre director. Swados received Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Choreography. She was nominated for Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Director of a Musical, Outstanding Lyrics, and Outstanding Music, and won an Obie Award for her direction of Runaways in 1978. In 1980, the Hobart and William Smith Colleges awarded her an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Reagan in music</span> Mentions of Ronald Reagan in popular music

The appearance of Ronald Reagan in music includes mentions and depictions of the actor-turned-politician in songs, albums, music videos, and band names, particularly during his two terms as President of the United States. Reagan first appeared on a few album covers during his time as a Hollywood actor, well before his political career. During the 1960s, folk, rock, and satirical musicians criticized Reagan in his early years as Governor of California for his red-baiting and attacking of the Berkeley-based Free Speech Movement. In the 1980s, songs critiquing Reagan became more widespread and numerous once he ascended to national office and involved himself in the renewal of the Cold War, the nuclear arms race, social conservatism, right-wing evangelicalism, and his economic policies in relation to low-income people. While references to Reagan during his presidency appear in pop music, his presence in song lyrics and on album covers is often associated with the hardcore punk counter-culture of the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of Ronald Reagan</span> Fictional character

Ronald Reagan has been variously depicted in popular culture since he was elected president in 1980. Reagan also appeared numerous times in popular fiction, particularly in his role as U.S. president in the 1980s.

Cinemax Comedy Experiment is an anthology series broadcast on Cinemax throughout the mid-to-late 1980s. Every episode was written and directed by a different standup comedian.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rich, Frank (Oct 4, 1984). "Stage: Partisan Revue, 'Rap Master Ronnie'". The New York Times. Retrieved Oct 4, 2019 via NYTimes.com.
  2. Bredemeier, Kenneth. 'Rap Master Ronnie.' The Washington Post. 12 July 1984
  3. "RAP MASTER RONNIE". Library of Congress. Retrieved Oct 4, 2019.
  4. 1 2 "Television Reviews : Cinemax's Grades Slump With 'Rap Master Ronnie'". Los Angeles Times. Feb 12, 1988. Retrieved Oct 4, 2019.