''Rap Master Ronnie'' is the name of several

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

comedies Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Gr ...

developed by

Garry Trudeau Garretson Beekman Trudeau (born July 21, 1948) is an American cartoonist best known for creating the ''Doonesbury'' comic strip. Trudeau won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1975, making him the first comic strip artist to win a ...

and

Elizabeth Swados Elizabeth Swados (February 5, 1951 – January 5, 2016) was an American writer, composer, musician, choreographer, and theatre director. Swados received Tony Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Book of a Music ...

throughout the 1980s, including a 1984

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

"partisan revue," a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

, and a

made for TV movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrestr ...

starring

The Smothers Brothers The Smothers Brothers were the American duo of brothers Tom and Dick Smothers, who performed folk singing, music, and comedy. The brothers' trademark double act was performing folk songs (Tommy on acoustic guitar, Dick on double bass), which us ...

Carol Kane Carolyn Laurie Kane (born June 18, 1952) is an American actress. She gained recognition for her role in '' Hester Street'' (1975), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She became known in the 1970s and 1980s in ...

, and

Jon Cryer Jonathan Niven Cryer (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor. Born into a show business family, he made his film debut with a lead role in ''No Small Affair'' (1984); his breakout role was as Duckie in the John Hughes (filmmaker), John Hughe ...

. The shows all share the same basic structure of a faux campaign ad for

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

, satirizing his

social policies Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of public policy, while other practitioners characterize social policy and public policy to be two separate, competing approaches for the same public interest (similar to Compar ...

, particularly those regarding drugs and minorities. The shows received largely mixed reviews.

Background

Garry Trudeau was a vocal critic of Reagan throughout his presidency, and devoted considerable space in his comic strip

Doonesbury ''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, ...

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 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 Stre ...

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 A floating timeline (also known as a sliding timescale) is a device used in fiction, particularly in long-running comics and animation, to explain why characters age little or not at all while the setting around them remains contemporary to the rea ...

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. A

was produced in conjunction with the play, to be used as a satirical

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

tape by the

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Democratic Party. The video was shot on location in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and featured professional Reagan impersonator Robert H. Schmidt as well as several break dancers credited as "The Doonesbury Break Crew". In 1985, the play was revived in Los Angeles. Four years later, as Reagan's presidency drew to a close, Swados and Trudeau updated the show as a

that aired on late night

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television network owned by Home Box Office, Inc., a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched on August 1, 1980, as a "maxi-pay" service to complement the offerings of its sister premium network, HBO (Home Box ...

in 1988 as part of the network's comedy programming block "

Cinemax Comedy Experiment 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. The series was known for giving full creative freedom to those comed ...

." This version was titled "Rap Master Ronnie: A Report Card".

Plot summary

The play is presented as sixteen interlinking musical numbers, each attacking some political position of Reagan's or examining the effects

Reaganomics Reaganomics (; a portmanteau of ''Reagan'' and ''economics'' attributed to Paul Harvey), or Reaganism, were the Neoliberalism, neoliberal economics, economic policies promoted by United States President, U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the ...

had on the American economy and culture of the 1980s. The story is presented within a

frame narrative A frame story (also known as a frame tale, frame narrative, sandwich narrative, or intercalation) is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either fo ...

of Ronald Reagan,

Nancy Reagan Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress who was the first lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, as the second wife of President Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in ...

Edwin Meese Edwin Meese III (born December 2, 1931) is an American attorney, law professor, author and member of the Republican Party who served in Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial administration (1967–1974), the Reagan presidential transition team (1980� ...

, and several

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...

agents (who serve as the

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

) taking a limo into the

inner city The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Soc ...

to film a campaign ad encouraging blacks to vote for him. Despite the title, only the opening number is performed in the style of

old-school hip hop Old-school hip hop (also spelled old skool) (also known as disco-rap) is the earliest commercially recorded hip hop music and the original style of the genre. It typically refers to the music created around 1979 to 1983, as well as any hip hop t ...

, with the remainder of the songs being 1980s style

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

Casts

Off-Broadway cast

* Reathel Bean as Ronald Reagan * Catherine Cox *

Ernestine Jackson Ernestine Jackson (born September 18, 1942) is an American actress and singer. Early life Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Jackson made her Broadway debut in 1967 as Irene Molloy in the all-black cast of '' Hello, Dolly!'' starring Pearl Bailey. ...

as Nancy Reagan/various * Mel Johnson Jr. * Richard Ryder * "The Doonesbury Break Crew"

Music video

* Robert H. Schmidt as Ronald Reagan * "The Doonesbury Break Crew"

Film cast

Jim Morris James Samuel Morris Jr. (born January 19, 1964) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for two seasons with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Although brief, Morris' career is noted for making his ...

as Ronald Reagan *

Reception

The play received generally mixed to positive reviews. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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." Conversely, the television movie was negatively reviewed, with the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' 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.

In popular culture

The ''

Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson ...

'' 1994 episode "

Homer Loves Flanders "Homer Loves Flanders" is the sixteenth episode of the fifth season of ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 17, 1994. In the episode, Ned Flanders invites Homer to a football game and the two be ...

" parodies the show as "Rappin' Ronnie Reagan," a

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

that Homer owns on cassette tape. The show is referenced again in the episode " Lisa on Ice", with

Kent Brockman Brock Kentman, more commonly called Kent Brockman, is a fictional character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Harry Shearer and first appeared in the episode " Krusty Gets Busted". He is the grumpy, self-cente ...

delivering a sensationalized news headline: "President Reagan ''dyes''... his hair, says Garry Trudeau in his new musical comedy revue!"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doonesbury 1984 musicals Broadway musicals Musicals based on comic strips Songs about Ronald Reagan Cultural depictions of Ronald Reagan Comedy hip-hop Satirical songs American political satire Canadian political satire