A Ryan Murphy Political Comedy Quasi-musical?
Monday, February 5, 2018 at 11:34PM Chris here. Ryan Murphy is a television titan with American Crime Story: Versace currently drawing high praise and umpteen projects in the pipeline, including a Sarah Paulson-led Nurse Ratched series. This next one already sounds kookier than the rest - Netflix has given a greenlight to The Politician, an hour-long comedic satire.
The series will star recent Tony winner Ben Platt and follow his character's burgeoning political career, plus feature the star in several musical numbers. Wait... what? This already sounds like the trickiest tone Murphy has had yet to land, but the outlandishness is rather intriguing. Further plot details are being kept under wraps but the ensemble is taking shape with deals in line for Gwyneth Paltrow and Barbra Streisand. Wait... WHAT? This sounds like Glee grew up but stayed bonkers, and even this Murphy skeptic is intrigued.
Murphy has several projects coming soon other than Ratched, including the New York ball scene drama Pose. Recently, American Crime Story: New Orleans has seen creative delays and lost Annette Bening in the process unfortunately. A bigger mystery than a potential second Feud iteration might be if Murphy ever gets some sleep.
Reader Comments (8)
Oh boy, is he too busy? Singing politics? (Hope it's more like Hamilton, and less like 1776). But in other musical TV news, when is Damien Chazelle's Netflix series supposed to drop?
I was hoping Ryan might cast Gwyneth in the upcoming Feud series as Princess Diana.
Is anybody else averse to Ben Platt? I still haven't gotten over his obnoxious character in the Pitch Perfect series and seriously question whether he's a good actor. (Though clearly he can sing.)
They lost me with 1 hour / political / musical
I almost envy people who devour everything Ryan Murphy creates.
But then I realize life is too short.
Besides The People vs. OJ Simpson (and the first season of Glee) I'm not sure that anything he's done is worth the time investment. Shows always look so garish and unwieldy in the worst possible way. The fact that he monopolizes great talent in the process is...kind of unforgivable.
@Hayden
Murphy deserves credit for hiring underutilized great talent. Especially our veteran actresses who receive a boost in recognition, awards, and sometimes better subsequent jobs.
I don't think that whatever Mr Platt's appeal is on stage translates to the screen
Platt can sing and is adorable as a personality--see Late Night or his twitter feed. But his performance on Will & Grace does raise doubts about his acting abilities.