REVIEW: Here Comes J. Edgar at Kings Head Theatre 17 July - 4 August 2026

'Peter Matz’s music gives Shearer and Leopold’s witty lyrics an extra lift' ★★★★

“Hoover was a bigot, a racist and a homophobe — a conspiracy theorist who amassed and abused enormous power, pursued his enemies unscrupulously and trampled on the civil liberties of law-abiding American citizens.” Nicholas Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times.

J. Edgar Hoover, the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), serving from 1924 until his death in 1972, targeted civil rights organizations, anti-war activists, and socialist groups. He used the FBI to hound anyone with unorthodox opinions.

He seems to have had a particular loathing for Martin Luther King Jr. He tapped King’s phone, bugged his hotel rooms, and had an anonymous letter sent to him encouraging him to kill himself before he was exposed. When in 1968 he heard that King had been shot he said: "I hope this son of a bitch doesn't die because if he does, they'll make a martyr out of him.”

He kept extensive files on politicians and journalists, either because he distrusted them or because he wanted to blackmail them. He blackmailed successive presidents in order to keep his job.

He claimed to believe homosexuality was a threat to national security. He tracked and hounded gay federal employees, and he was almost certainly a closet gay himself.

So making a comic musical out of his life is full of pitfalls.  The man and his deeds are dark and dangerous, and if you put them on stage, no one is going to find them funny. But if you go for the fun, making it a gay romp with a sanitised Hoover at its heart, you risk a “Springtime with Hitler” moment. 

Fortunately, it’s in safe hands. Writers Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold and director Josh Seymour have produced a gloriously funny musical out of Hoover’s life, but they have not left out his dark deeds. Peter Matz’s music gives Shearer and Leopold’s witty lyrics an extra lift, and Bill Deamer’s choreography is worthy of Hollywood it its very best. It’s wonderful to see it at a small, intimate 200 seat live theatre in Islington.

There are some great lines. Everyone needs publicity, radio commentator Walter Winchell tells Hoover. If he gets publicity, “soon your G-men will be allowed to wear guns and arrest people”. And, in a fashionable night club frequented by the stars: “You might want to get up from that floor, Shirley Temple just threw up on it.”

The cast is magnificent, led by a scowling but amorous Bryan Batt, from the TV series Mad Men,  as Hoover. Perhaps he’s a shred too likeable – I’d have liked to see a little more menace.

Hugo Bolton simpers magnificently as Hoover’s long-standing friend, assistant and lover Clyde Tolson. There are briefly entertaining cameos of the presidents Hoover blackmails from Simon Antony (Johnson), Ryan Heeman (Eisenhower), Alfie Parker (Roosevelt) and Reuben Khan (Kennedy), though I felt some small effort might have been made to get them to look a little like the presidents they portrayed. Special mention for a marvellous cameo from Judith Owen as the “lady in red.”

Laura Medforth is wonderful as Hoover’s loyal secretary Helen Gandy, who worked for him, kept his secrets, and, if this version is to be believed, secretly loved him, for 54 years until he died. One of the best scenes in the show is a song and dance routine in which Helen, ageing and having sent all lovers packing, tries to show her uncomprehending boss what a wild affair with her might be like. 

And the cross-dressing scene, when Hoover goes to a party in a dress and meets a man called Victor who fancies him, is a marvellous contrast to what has gone before, with the FBI director simpering: “If you’re Victor, I must be the spoils.”

J Edgar Theatre Productions Presents

HERE COMES J EDGAR!

By Harry Shearer, Tom Leopold, & Peter Matz

BOX OFFICE https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/here-comes-j-edgar-a-comedy-musical-t7zc

Starring

MARC ELLIOTT

BRYAN BATT as J Edgar Hoover

Creatives

Directed by Josh Seymour

Choreography by Bill Deamer

Musical Supervisor, Orchestration & Arrangement- Benjamin Ferguson

Musical Director - Luke Holma

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

Ensemble

Judith Owen

Lucy O'Byrne

Alfie Parker

Laura Medforth

Holly Willock

Jeremy Batt

Isobel Grace Bass

Joanna Kirkland

Hugo Bolton

Martha Pothen

Ryan Heenan

Reuben Khan

Jess Pratley

Simon Anthony