Nixon/King
Plant Ant Theater
Hamtramck
Through Jan. 25, 2025
The year is 1960. A young Martin Luther King, Jr. sits in a Georgia jail cell on trumped- up charges, trying to figure out how to get home to his family, denied the ability by a racist jailer to call his wife, presidential candidate (and then-vice president) Richard Nixon shows up to come to his rescue – or does he?
This is the setting for Robert P. Young III’s new musical Nixon/King, which made its world premiere Friday at Planet Ant Theatre in Hamtramck.
The show, directed by Jen Lee, offers a fictional “What if?” version of history, depicting the titular men in conversation and debate as they each struggle with the choices ahead of them.
While Nixon was cautiously supportive of the Civil Rights Movement and knew the King family, such a jail visit to King never happened in reality. Fearing losing the Southern vote, Nixon ignored King’s pleas to help get him out of jail, which some say contributed to his narrow loss to John F. Kennedy (who did decide to help).
In Nixon/King, Young examines that choice further, exploring the inner conflict of an ambitious man torn between doing what is right and obtaining power. King parallels this with his own inner turmoil, striving to maintain his values of nonviolence while continuing to face seemingly insurmountable challenges.
The concept behind the play is an ambitious one, portraying the perceived inner struggles of two major historical figures and making them relevant to modern-day audiences. With a five-person cast and a bare minimal set, the impact of the story rests on the strength of the material and the cast, neither of which reach their full potential in this initial production.
The crux of the story is there. But Nixon/King often feels disorganized and gets distracted. The core of the musical is the interaction between the two main characters, but the show’s attempt to bring in the conflicting natures of other cast members pulls focus away.
The play opens with a racist jailer (Dylan Mirisola) singing an “n” word-filled song to King (Young) about how he wants to lynch him. A later scene between the two depicts a friendlier exchange but doesn’t do much to move the story forward. A dream sequence song by Kennedy (Steve Pierce) serves to depict his hypocrisy but also distracts from the primary struggles of the two main characters.
Red dress-clad temptress “Lucy Ifer” (Itaysha Walker) encourages King to betray his values. She shows King a glimpse of the future and Nixon’s hypocrisy. She urges King to kill Nixon, even providing swords for a later duel between the two men. She also pushes him to sexual infidelity for reasons unclear, which distracts from his larger struggles keeping his commitment to nonviolent activism.
The pacing of the musical also felt inconsistent. Nixon owns the first part of the show with most of the dialogue (and a long period between songs), before a noticeable disappearance where the production transitions almost entirely to King’s experience, who is the only one to have significant interactions with the other three characters. In a show meant to parallel the inner turmoil between two men, Lucy should have made a visit to both main characters to maintain that balance.
While there were some pretty moments in the music throughout the show, which was also composed by Young, it failed to soar and inspire. There were several duets where characters sang on top of each other, but instead of harmonizing and strengthening their message together, it made it more difficult to understand them.
The highlight of the show is Demerell’s Nixon. Demerell nails the voice and mannerisms of the future 37th American president while conveying the inner turmoil of a man trying to do the right thing and stay in power while constantly feeling misunderstood.
Young’s King echoes Nixon’s frustration, but his portrayal lacks the fire and charisma of the iconic civil rights leader.
While the show bills itself as a dramedy, its comedic moments are few. Lucy the temptress offers a playful element to the show, but other than one self-deprecating joke from Nixon, there’s no actual comedy. It would be more accurate to categorize the show as a straight drama.
The concept of the show – the value of better understanding the humanity and pressures of people in power – is a worthy one with the potential to make a strong emotional impact. It may be better served when stripped down to the core relationship between Nixon and King without distraction.
