As 2024 presidential race looms, the Obama musical ‘44’ goes back to 2008

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“44” is a musical satire that skewers political events during the administration of Barack Obama. The show has been merrily bouncing from city to city in a two-year quest to make itself Broadway-ready and veto-proof.

It lands in Philadelphia this week at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre from Tuesday, Oct. 28 to Sunday, Nov. 3.

Writer and director Eli Bauman said it’s no coincidence that in the days leading up to the presidential election, he’s brought “44” to Philly, which has been near-constantly visited by candidates. Just like its appearance in Chicago last August during the Democratic National Convention, Bauman wanted his show to be if not in the room, in the city where it happens as this presidential election cycle comes to a close.

“You’ve got to be in the arena. Where’s the action? Where’s the inflection point, or place?” he said. “What we’re doing is a civics reminder. Here’s how it can feel to vote and why it’s important to vote.”

Bauman is a television writer who worked on Obama’s 2008 election campaign. He feels the 2016 election of Donald Trump was a pendulum swing away from the more progressive politics he prefers.

“It was this big snapback,” he said.

He wrote “44” to relive the major moments of the Obama years, but not really. This is not a documentary musical. Bauman is not interested in writing a factually accurate retelling of what happened between 2008 and 2016, so he invented a quasi-fictitious narrator to guide the audience through the musical: Joe Biden.

“I figured it would be a fun narrative device. This is basically how Joe Biden remembers it, so it’s in the ballpark of stuff that actually happened,” Bauman said. “By having it through Biden’s hazy recollection, it gave me a blank check to do whatever I wanted.”

At the center of “44” is a romance between two people who happen to occupy the White House. Barack (played by T.J. Wilkins from “The Voice”) and Michelle (played by Shanice Wilson-Knox, aka the R&B singer Shanice) navigate simultaneously the roller coaster of American politics and their own marital relationship.

“We see them in public and on camera, but when they’re in the White House, what really goes on behind closed doors?” Shanice said. “We have a song called ‘White House Love,’ and I love singing that song because it shows the more romantic and intimate side of Michelle and Barack.”

Neither Shanice nor Wilkins try to impersonate the First Couple. They both deeply admire the people upon whom their characters are based and leaned into that admiration.

“I said, ‘Okay, let me think about all the things I love about her,’” Shanice said. “I love that she’s a strong woman, a strong Black woman. She’s a mother. She’s a great, supportive wife. And I’m those things as well. I have a family. I have children. I have a husband. I can relate to her in that way.”

Wilkins said he spent time studying videotapes of Barack Obama’s speaking patterns and body language, but in the end opted to go with his gut.

“Much like Shanice, I rooted this character in truth,” he said. “A man who really believes in the dream of what America could be, who believes in both sides of the aisle Democrats and Republicans working together, and also trying to balance that with being a husband and a father, and a guy who likes to play basketball. A very complex human being.”

“44” is an affectionate piece of satire, one that the real Barack Obama has not reportedly seen. Bauman wrote it mostly during the Trump administration but did not include any reference to Obama’s successor.

“I repeat: Zero Trump,” he said. “One of the bets I made early was, I have a feeling people are going to get plenty of this man over the next however-long-this-plays-out. I wanted this show to be an oasis from whatever storm that was going to be.”

“44” plays through Sunday at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre.