A new Trump parody musical has Michael Cohen's blessing

Good morning. Today we're looking at an Off Broadway musical that Donald Trump's former fixer will promote during a press preview this morning. We also get details about a lawsuit against Mayor Eric Adams that, in an unusual move, the City Council could join.

Today — the day a judge can schedule a criminal trial against Donald Trump — the one-time fixer acting in that case will promote an off-Broadway broadcast of the former president and several women in his life.

The show, “Five: The Parody Musical,” centers on Trump; his two ex-wives; his current wife, Melania Trump; his daughter Ivanka; and Stormy Daniels, the porn actress whose fixer, Michael Cohen, paid $130,000 to keep quiet about her affair with Trump.

Cohen will be the MC at a press preview for “Five” this morning, introducing cast members who will perform songs from the show. He said he saw the script and thought it was “clever and funny.”

The book and lyrics for “Five” were written by two gay men from Orthodox Jewish backgrounds – one a drag performer, the other a former mortgage adviser turned playwright and producer. The show was inspired by 'Six', the energetic Broadway musical about the wives of Henry VIII that Times critic Jesse Green called “a Tudors Got Talent belt between six sassy divas.”

“The light bulb moment came right after we saw 'Six,'” “Five” writers Moshiel Newman Daphna and Shimmy Braun said in a press release for the show. They said that “Five,” with music and additional lyrics by Billy Recce, a 26-year-old composer with other Off Broadway credits, “at least gives these women their moment in the spotlight.” Previews begin tonight at Theater 555, located at 555 West 42nd Street.

Cohen — who pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in 2018 and served a prison sentence — told me by phone that he was working on his material for the press preview.

“It would really have to look like me or it wouldn't be authentic,” he said. “I think my sense of humor is strong enough. This isn't a full comedy routine. There are only a few minutes between acts.”

This was after we determined who exactly he was talking to. He had called me, as agreed by people from the show, but at first he thought he had called someone from the show who would give him “some talking points,” he said.

“I don't want to talk about this Trump legal circus,” he said. “His legal team – it's like playing Whac-a-Mole with subpoenas. You'll get a summons! You'll get a summons! Everyone gets a summons.”

It wasn't Oprah Winfrey who shouted, 'You're getting a car! You get a car!” but he liked it. “I agree with that,” he stated.

Cohen said it was “interesting” that the press event was scheduled on the same day as a hearing in one of the cases involving Trump. But he also said that “it would be difficult for anyone to find a day when he can hold a press conference where he is not confronted with a legal issue.”

The case on the docket today was brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has accused Trump of falsifying records of payments he made to Cohen to reimburse him for the hush money. Trump has attacked the judge as “Trump-hating” and Bragg, who is black and a Democrat, as a “racist” on a politically motivated “witch hunt.”

Cohen said he became involved with “Five” after the show's PR agents contacted him to ask if he would read the script — “and if I liked it, if I would be willing to do the press conference.” to organize.'

There is no role for him in the show, he said, but he noted that he is mentioned because one of the five titular women is Daniels. Cohen has said that Trump directed him to make the payment to Daniels; Trump has denied having an affair with her.

Cohen said he had not seen a performance of “Five.” He also hasn't seen 'Six'. “Of course I know the story,” he said. “This is a bit of a comical representation of that, using Donald instead of Henry V.”

Henry the what?

“Henry VIII,” he corrected himself.

He continued to think about his monologue.

“Here's something more like me: how I would end the first introduction,” he said. “In all seriousness, it's easy for all of us to make fun of Trump or Trump's legal troubles here, but there are real consequences at stake here, not just for our individual freedoms, but for the future of the democracy. That said, let's hope justice is served. And not just with a well-cooked steak and ketchup on the side, but with real consequences, so that we can all agree that no one is above the law.”

“Actually,” he said, “can you read that to me? I'm going to use that word for word.”

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The latest Metro news

There are four petitioners in a class action lawsuit against Mayor Eric Adams and the city: three tenants facing eviction from affordable apartments they have lived in for years, and a family in a city-run shelter.

All four are represented by the Legal Aid Society, which accuses Adams of failing to comply with laws intended to reduce homelessness.

And in an unusual twist, the city council is expected to join the lawsuit soon.

At issue is a package of bills the Council passed last year to expand options for a housing voucher program, which is one of the city's main tools to combat homelessness. Adams vetoed the legislation, saying the city could not afford the changes the bill called for. The Council voted in July to override the veto.

Since then, the government has failed to make the vouchers more widely available, the lawsuit states. Legal Aid filed the lawsuit on behalf of people who qualified for the voucher program, known as CityFHEPS.

The mayor made some changes to the program through an executive order, including removing the rule that people could only qualify for vouchers if they had stayed in a shelter for 90 days. Advocates for the homeless had pushed for the change.

But the package of laws passed by the Council went further, making tenants eligible for a voucher after receiving a request for unpaid rent from their landlord. Previously, people usually had to prove through housing court that they were facing eviction.

METROPOLITAN diary

Reading rush hour

Dear Diary:

I was on a rush hour train into the city with my children, a three-year-old and a baby. I had to stand with the stroller and the baby, but I found a spot where my daughter could sit a little further away.

After sitting down with her Madeline book, she looked up at me.

“Mommy, you wanted to read to me,” she said.

I made eye contact with a man sitting next to her. He was tall and slim, wearing a beige cotton summer suit and a bow tie.

“Sweetheart, ask the man to read to you,” I said.

The man gestured to himself.

“Me?” he said.

I nodded.

He then read “Madeline” from 42nd Street to 72nd as riders nearby watched and listened.

–Claire Steichen