00:00
[bright chiming music]
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♪ We’ve got 2020 vision ♪
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♪ You’ve got quite a big decision ♪
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♪ Who’s the one ♪
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Adore Us! Line is a song-by-song parody
00:27
of the Broadway hit A Chorus Line.
00:30
In our production, rather than a director
00:33
auditioning a group of dancers,
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we have an Iowa voter that is auditioning
00:37
the 26 or more Democratic presidential candidates for 2020.
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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all voting ages,
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Welcome to the three-ring circus we call the Iowa caucuses.
00:50
[jaunty piano music]
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♪ Step right up ♪
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♪ Come one, come all ♪
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♪ See them audition at this casting call ♪
00:56
♪ Each one battling to prove their worth ♪
01:00
♪ For the greatest role on Earth ♪
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♪ I can win Wisconsin ♪
01:09
♪ If you just will trust in me ♪
01:14
I’m playing Amy Klobuchar.
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♪ A woman’s place could also be ♪
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♪ In the White House ♪
01:21
I’m playing Cory Booker.
01:23
The harsh fact of the matter is I’m in deep shit.
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I play the Iowa voter.
01:33
I’m playing Bernie Sanders.
01:34
What I really am is pissed.
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♪ I am principled, but pissed ♪
01:37
♪ I am passionate, but pissed ♪
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I’m playing Senator Elizabeth Warren.
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♪ We’re Indigenous, there’s a smidge in us ♪
01:43
[Interviewer] You’re married, correct?
01:47
Something like that.
01:49
Well, we have a nice detente.
01:50
We’re gonna shake hands here, unlike the real two.
01:55
My arms kinda wanna do something.
01:57
I don’t want to make a big gesture.
01:58
I’m okay with that.
01:59
Elizabeth does this a lot.
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She touches her chest.
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When she feels something.
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[Director] I feel like that would be
02:03
totally appropriate for you.
02:04
I kinda like to do that.
02:05
Yeah, I think that’s fine,
02:06
especially if you bend at Sydney and then you face out,
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and then you’re here.
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♪ Hello Fort Dodge ♪
02:15
♪ Hello Clive ♪
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♪ Not on trains ♪
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♪ Not on planes ♪
02:29
My initial impression of her from those early days
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is that she’s very constrained, very,
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that sort of schoolmarmish cliche
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that has developed around her,
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but as I’ve watched her more closely,
02:40
getting ready to play this role,
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she’s not like that at all,
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she’s very much an extrovert,
02:44
she’s a toucher, she’s a smiler,
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and she is really involved in other people
02:49
at a very visceral level, I think.
02:51
With Bernie, there’s a prickly humor that I enjoy playing.
02:53
[Mary] He thinks he’s not practicing Bernie,
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but he does it without even realizing it,
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he could be way down in the basement with the door closed,
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and I’ll hear [yells].
03:03
He does tend to carry.
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Whether he’s gonna carry Iowa or not.
03:08
[Joe] Remains to be seen.
03:09
[Interviewer] Who are you planning to caucus for?
03:11
Well, up until a couple of days ago,
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I had narrowed it down to five.
03:17
In the beginning of rehearsals, I was Buttigieg,
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I was leaning Buttigieg, but now I am caucusing for Amy.
03:23
I found myself really liking
03:26
Andrew Yang’s vision for the country.
03:28
Well, I have watched a lot of Pete Bittigieg,
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so I might be a little bit biased towards him.
03:33
There is a yard sign at our house
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for a candidate which is one of the two of us,
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and the other one of us is not decided yet.
03:40
[laughs] that would be me.
03:42
Well we can divide the yard,
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and we just put a line right down the center of it,
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and one half will be yours, one half will be mine.
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I kind of, you know,
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I get frustrated with people who take a long time to decide.
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I hate being that person.
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I’ve never been that person,
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I’ve always known months in advance what I was going to do,
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but this time feels different.
04:01
We’re on our way to see Elizabeth Warren
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speak at a community conversation at Rents high school.
04:06
[Interviewer] Your hair looks different!
04:08
Yeah, well, we had been working out
04:11
using a wig for the show,
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and I think it was going to be fine,
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but I woke up on Thursday morning
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with just one of those moments of epiphany,
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and I said girl, this is your chance,
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so I called my stylist and got myself in,
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and we went with the blonde bob,
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and I’ve got my little wire rim glasses on now,
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so this is as close as I’m gonna get
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as far as really looking like her.
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So, for me, I’m really down to,
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my main issue is whether I’m looking at a progressive lean,
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or a moderate lean candidate.
04:39
Warren and Klobuchar are my two top choices,
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I was a little bit out
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in front of the New York Times on that,
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they were my favorites as of last week,
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I just wanted that pointed out for the record.
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For the most part, on issues,
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I would just personally go progressive,
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tax me, let’s have Medicare for all!
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Gee, let’s not have people dying on the streets,
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what a genius idea, but I know a lot of people
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don’t feel quite as strongly as I do about that,
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and I’m more concerned about getting things done.
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I’ve been to her events,
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I’m not going to hear anything new I haven’t heard before,
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it’s a stim speech, I understand that,
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just meeting someone in person tells you more about them.
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You know, I even changed the part on my hair
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to the other side, that’s how deep
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my commitment to this project goes, and this person.
05:30
Very good turn out.
05:32
I even wrote down my questions.
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Electoral problems, legislative efficacy,
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oh, here’s another one,
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I have a real problem with her wealth tax.
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Historically, these wealth taxes never work,
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because they’re so many loopholes
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that they never hit the revenue target.
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We can’t rule around the edges,
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we wanna fix that, it’s gonna take big structural change.
06:06
This moment is our moment in history,
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our moment to dream big, fight hard, and win.
06:16
[audience applauds]
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We’re in the selfie line, and by god I’ve come this far,
06:29
I have no intention of leaving, and sorry Brittany,
06:30
my stage manager, I’m gonna be a little late, so.
06:35
I still have some qualms about this,
06:39
I don’t, I mean I understand this isn’t the place
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where she’s not gonna come out
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and start talking about electoral college deficiencies,
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that’s not going to be a subject matter of this thing.
06:48
Do you want me to just say, Here’s the weirdness,
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I’m playing you in a show that opens this weekend.
06:53
I think I should, I’d be stupid not to.
06:58
You can hand your phone to Abby.
07:06
I did it just for you.
07:07
So I cut my hair from when I used to look that way.
07:09
Well, I, mine was this long and brown ’til last week,
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I fixed it because I’m starring in this new show
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at the Des Moines Civic Center playing you,
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opening on Friday night.
07:18
I love it, it’s perfect!
07:19
This is our author right here, so–
07:21
I have that sweater!
07:23
It’s Land’s End, I’m sure you–
07:25
Yeah, great, great.
07:26
You know, I like, it’s nice!
07:27
This too, it’s Land’s End too!
07:28
We’re both wearing Land’s End, everybody.
07:30
If it’s all gonna be billionaires and giant corporations,
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We’re gonna lose the whole damn thing.
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There’s not enough of ’em, for god’s sake.
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We just can’t do that.
07:40
[Woman] All right, we’re gonna get a photo,
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ready, one, two, three.
07:42
Awesome and then you’re gonna–
07:43
And we can, that’s the thing.
07:45
We can, yes we can.
07:46
I’m scared, I’m afraid.
07:46
[Woman] All right, ready, one, two, three.
07:49
No, if you’re gonna play me, you can’t be afraid.
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It’s a fight from the heart, and we’re gonna get this done,
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and we’re gonna do it together.
08:01
Be strong out there.
08:05
[Man] Phones in bags.
08:06
[Cameraman] [stammers] in bag.
08:08
[Interviewer] So, what was it like to meet Warren?
08:11
Oh my gosh, it was, it was kind of overwhelming,
08:14
and I got a little emotional, to tell you the truth,
08:16
and I felt like she did too, when I said,
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I’m playing you, and it’s such an honor.
08:27
It’s kind of incredible, really.
08:31
I still don’t know what I’m gonna do,
08:32
as weird as that sounds.
08:34
I’ve become that crazy person that can’t.
08:44
♪ Now we face a choice ♪
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♪ Do we raise one voice ♪
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♪ Or remain divided ♪
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♪ We must unify ♪
09:06
♪ To build a new tomorrow ♪
09:07
We take our responsibility
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of being first in the nation very seriously,
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and so, I think most people that do attend the caucuses
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don’t just show up that night,
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for the first time interested in politics,
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they have gone to many, many rallies,
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they have done their research.
09:22
♪ One more day ♪
09:23
♪ For the time ♪
09:24
It makes people need to be a little more committed
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to who they’re caucusing for, because it’s a big decision
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to say that in front of your peers,
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and to say, This is why I’m doing this,
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rather than just writing it on a ballot.
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♪ For the time in now ♪
09:47
[audience applauds]
