Here Comes J.Edgar! Is a fun show. It’s fast and flashy and funny and super-camp. It features g-men chorus lines, an array of presidents and celebrities, and a tender love affair between the director of the FBI and his lifetime assistant.

The songs are pleasant and full of clever rhymes – not Cole Porter clever, but then few songs are. The evening whizzes by, and the laughs are plentiful.

There are reservations. J. Edgar Hoover was a corrupt right-wing demagogue who persecuted civil rights leaders, union members, and John Lennon. He also liked dressing up as a woman and had long and seemingly emotionally satisfying gay relationships.

There needs to be an account of his corruption in any telling of his story, and is making him seem ridiculous in a ball gown, and hypocritical in his relationships, adequate criticism? Probably not.

So what we get is silly J. Edgar is not evil J. Edgar. And a lot of the laughs are directed at how Bryan Batt (the star of Mad Men now animating J. Edgar) looks in a sparkly ball-gown and a wig. So the laughs are plentiful, the grotesquerie is lavish, and the political critique is practically invisible. Which is pretty much the norm for musical theatre. Men in frocks, clever lyrics, and a corps de ballet made up of G-Men. What’s not to like?

For more information about Here Comes J. Edgar! Please use the link below.

Plays at the King’s Head Theatre until 16th August 2026.

Three and half stars.

https://kingsheadtheatre.com/

Directed by Josh Seymour

Choreography by Bill Deamer

Musical Supervisor – Benjamin Ferguson

Scenic Designer – Sophia Pardon

Costume Designer – Tom Paris

Lighting Designer – Jamie Platt

Sound Designer – Nick Lodge

Casting Director – Harry Blumenau CDG CSA

General Management – James Quaife for Luminous Entertainment Group

Producers – Arthur Spivak and David Burns