If you've been following political news, you may have seen that U.S. Representative George Santos has been caught in a number of lies recently. That number seems to be nearly endless, with the Long Island congressman having fudged such facts as where he went to school, how his campaign was financed, his past job history, how his mother died on 9/11—pretty much everything.
And now we officially mean everything. According to Bloomberg News, Santos told potential donors while running for Congress in 2021 that he produced Broadway's ill-fated Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Yes, of all the Broadway shows to lie about having produced, Santos allegedly picked not Hamilton, not The Phantom of the Opera, not The Producers, not Bette Midler in Hello, Dolly!. He chose one of Broadway's most infamous productions, which reportedly lost a staggering $60 million of its investment even after a three-year drama-filled run.
Perhaps needless to say, Santos was not credited as a producer in the Spider-Man Playbill. And Bloomberg confirmed via an assistant of lead producer Michael Cohl that Santos did not, in fact, have anything to do with the show.
One wonders why he hasn't claimed to have invested in Rebecca, but then perhaps that would be too believable.
A theatrical lie may have been unavoidable for Santos; Broadway has certainly taken notice of Santos' scandals. The new Broadway musical Shucked used a fake George Santos quote in their ads (which you may have seen on Playbill's website): "I saw it 300 times before it even opened!”
Broadway stars have gotten in on the fun. Be More Chill star George Salazar has volunteered to play Santos in the inevitable crime television series (though he joked "I'm not Jew-ish though").
Not to be topped, Newsies and Tuck Everlasting star Andrew Keenan-Bolger posted his "self-tape audition" to play Santos' "twink assistant."
Stay tuned—we may get Santos: The Musical before this is all over. Ask the congressman himself and he might say it already exists!
