Jack Wagner on STABLE GENIUS: A Political Comedy Parody of Trump and MAGA

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Taking on Trump with a musical!

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Jack Wagner founded the theater company The Mystic Cat Society, and its mission has been to produce parody musicals. And what better for poking fun at right now than Trump and the MAGA movement? STABLE GENIUS will run at the MATCH from May 21st through the 31st. BROADWAY WORLD writer Brett Cullum sat down with Jack, along with cast members Byron Franco and Minsook Kim, to talk all things musical and Trump!

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Brett Cullum: So tell me, what the hell is this thing?

Jack Wagner : It's a political comedy parody. In the broadest sense, we're making fun of all things Trump and MAGA. I brought Byron Franco and Misook Kim with me, who play Trump and Kristi Noem. But other characters we have include Marco Rubio, RFK Jr., Pam Bondi, Howard Lutnik, and we even got Tucker Carlson in there, with a little back-and-forth with Steve Bannon. And, who did I miss? J.D. Vance, that's pretty much the cast of characters. The story is set a year from now, roughly, at Trump's 81st birthday party, which will be in June of 2027, and that's where we pick up the story in the first act, they're getting together for his little birthday get-together, and it turns into kind of navigating and projecting what the future of MAGA's gonna be, and whether Trump's gonna leave. If he doesn't, who's gonna stay, who's gonna get the nomination? And it, we can give you more details as we go on, but that's… that's the setup.

Brett Cullum: Well, what made you want to produce this and possibly be on some strange list somewhere?

Jack Wagner : Well, we… this will be the fourth musical we did. We did one that was just a straight-up show about a fishing legend. But the other three, the first one, right after COVID, was called COVIDIUS, and it starred Donald Trump , it had Tucker in it, it had some of these same characters. It was a very political show, basically, kind of the pro-vaccine, anti-vaccine, and all the politics with COVID. The next political one was a show called GATOR CONSPIRACY, in which Marjorie Taylor Greene connived her way into becoming Trump's VP for the 2024 election, and they won. They have a falling out, and she tries to take… kill him with an alligator.

We’re probably like a lot of folks who are a bit frustrated these days, but we try not to preach. I mean, to me, the best weapon maybe is humor and satire, and it keeps you from being too angry all the time. You can have fun, have some laughs, and that's what we try to do in this show.

Brett Cullum: Well, Byron, you are playing the man of the hour, right? Can you give me a little of him?

Byron Franco [doing Donald Trump ]: Well, I can tell you it's gonna be the best impression of Trump you've ever seen, the best musical performance, perhaps since Gene Kelly .

Brett Cullum: You know that Trump actually did a musical number with Megan Mullally, of all things, for an Emmy Award ceremony, and they did the theme song to Green Acres . So, you can actually watch him sing! It's, it's… um… amazing. The best singing I have heard in a long time!

Jack Wagner : No way.

Byron Franco: That's something I've been studying.

Brett Cullum: And Minsook, you're playing Kristi Noem, right?

Minsook: Yes. Well, she's out at this moment, so we were… Jack was a bit worried when she got fired.

Jack Wagner : Yeah, we were pretty worried, and I got talking to one of the other cast members and came up with the idea of kind of an alternate reality, and just throw in the beginning when we're introducing the characters, bring her up, and mention that she's been reinstated by Trump. You know, so in the play she's been reinstated, and I think the audience will go along with that.

Brett Cullum: I'm sure. Anything can happen. I mean, come on. Marjorie Taylor Greene could still be vice president. We don't know. I mean, it just seems like in this world that we're living in, I just don't know what's gonna happen next anyway. It's almost hard to parody this, because it almost is its own.

Jack Wagner : It truly is, every day.

Brett Cullum: Is this set at Mar-a-Lago?

Jack Wagner : We have Mar-a-Lago, we have DC, and then a couple of restaurant things where the various characters are meeting and plotting against each other. A good part of the show, the backstabbing, and really, the first half of the show is the competition, the one-upmanship! And we have sex, drugs, a lot of alcohol with Pete Hegsteth. We have a lot of fun with the Pete Hegseth character and his drinking problem, which we take to great extremes. The sexual issues, you might say, or the rumors with Kristi Noem, we just expand on that greatly, and we just have a lot of fun with the sex, drugs, and alcohol. And then you got the backstabbing, blackmail, you know, all that going on.

Brett Cullum: I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this point, because it almost sounds too close to home. I mean, as far as what's really happening. How do you think audiences are going to react?

Jack Wagner : Oh, yeah, yeah. Byron, what do you think?

Byron Franco: If you strip away the political connotations, which may be impossible, it's just gonna be a good, fun show. Jack is such a talented musician and a genuinely funny writer. That's the kind of place I'm gonna approach it from at the end of the day, just make a show people enjoy. The political connotations are gonna be a part of it. Some people will be offended on both sides, but it's offensive stuff that can really push the button and move the discussion forward.

Brett Cullum: Well, Minsook, how did you get attached to this project? Is this your first time with this company?

Minsook Kim: Yes, it is, and I'm so glad I found it, because I had so much fun getting ready for the audition, and the actual audition, I had so much fun, and I was just like, this is gonna be such a fun play. It's gonna be fun to do, it's gonna be fun for people to watch, it's gonna be hilarious. It's just total entertainment, I feel like, on top of all the discussions that it might cause for people and things, so I think it'll be… I think it's good. It's a good thing. The musical part of it is so much fun, too!

Brett Cullum: So, it must be really fun to step in and play with the news. I mean, that's your prep right now, is just watching news conferences, and things at the airport, and I mean, this is wild. So, I am so excited about this, because it is May 21st through the 31st at the MATCH. For sure, it just sounds like so much fun. And your company sounds like a lot of fun, and your actors here look like they're so much fun. It's probably what we need after all this. I hope that we're still around!

Jack Wagner : Hmm, hopefully. The issue with this, and we've worried about it, because everything is so crazy, and the first term, he would literally fire… in a couple of weeks, he would totally replace his cabinet. And this show, set in the future, was a fair amount of risk. Are these characters gonna be here? Well, we know one is gone, but we can bring back one. We were really worried about erratic Trump.

Brett Cullum: Well, at the end of the day, it is a democracy, and whatever side you landed on, okay, good luck to you. Do you think a Republican could come to this show and enjoy it? Let me ask you that.

Minsook Kim: It could, yeah.

Jack Wagner : Yeah, I think, I really do. You know, we’re really not bashing anyone.

Brett Cullum: Right.

Byron Franco: Jack's humor comes from such a good place, it's not a mean-spirited place that, you know, it holds up for everybody.

Brett Cullum: Thank you all for talking to me about this. I am thrilled to see it being done. I'm thrilled to introduce the Mystic Cat Society to BROADWAY WORLD readers. And Stable Genius at the match, Matchbox One, May 21st through the 31st. Tickets available at the MATCH site, pretty much.

Jack Wagner : Or our website, The Mystic Cat Society.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/houston/article/Interview-Jack-Wagner-of-STABLE-GENIUS-at-The-Mystic-Cat-Society-20260512)._