The Passion of George W. Bush makes a statement before it even begins. The formidably large curtain, reflecting brightly colored lights,creates the effect of seeing a big swath of electoral red in the Michael Schimmel Center for the Performing Arts at Pace University. The musical begins with a four-person choir in white (klan?) robes singing a song that introduces the Bush family circa 1950. Daddy is a stoic stuffed shirt (“Men like me put the ‘G’ in GOP”). Jeb (Charles Browning, who also plays Colin Powell) is the black sheep and young George (Colin Stokes) earnestly yearns to get into heaven. While Jeb is relegated to sleeping under George’s bed, father Bush (Craig Baldwin) instructs Junior that the “road to heaven is lined with Bushes.” (The show’s book and lyrics are by John Herin and Adam B. Mathias; the music is by Alden Terry.) Next, we see young George coping with his alcoholism and being a loser. He passes out cold, and in his drunken stupor thinks he is visited by God. In fact, it is Dick Cheney (Michael Gladis), taking advantage of W.’s drunken confusion. Dick’s introductory dirge ends with W.’s fervent religious conversion, certain that God has spoken to him. He is visited by three “disciples”: Karl Rove, Condoleezza Rice, and Cheney himself. The gullible, if honorable, Bush earnestly strives for greatness and his father’s approval, only to become a tool of the evil trio. Under the direction of Simon Hammerstein, the biting satire ultimately does the president a service: It portrays him as a principled man of integrity duped by carelessly cunning manipulators. Rove (Jonathan Putterman) is a sadistic Machiavellian who makes young George swallow his chewing tobacco to prove his earnestness. Condi (Thursday Farrar) gets off every time Dick starts talking dirty, and Dick is the mastermind behind everything. (Powell is relegated to fetching coffee and answering phones.) Through the humor comes a seething anger that isn’t really directed at the president himself: He’s too infantile and good-natured. The show follows a real-life trend to view W. as a puppet, or the servant of many masters. Only history will tell. In the meantime, if you want to see Dick Cheney defibrillate himself, Condi Rice sing a lullaby, George Bush salute stagehands dressed as Secret Service agents (a marvelous directorial touch), and what could be an almost reasonable genesis of the “No Child Left Behind” slogan, then The Passion of George W. Bush is definitely for you. — Sean Dugan, actor, ‘Valhalla,’ ‘Flesh and Blood,’ ‘Henry IV’