- Ryan Murphy’s first Netflix show, The Politician, not only has an A-list ensemble (hello, Gwyneth Paltrow), but it’s also making stars out of newcomers like Theo Germaine, David Corenswet, Natasha Ofili, Rahne Jones, and Laura Dreyfuss. They're just part of the reason we can't wait for for season 2.
- Other reasons we love the show? In addition to its spot-on campy humor, the music—from the opening credits “Chicago” theme song to Platt’s piano-accompanied “River” ballad—will make you emotional. Which is why we’ve dug up what’s worth knowing about the final Billy Joel "Vienna" cover from episode eight.
- Warning: This story is riddled with spoilers.
We promise to promise you everything.
That’s the marketing slogan the Netflix folks have used all summer long to promote Ryan Murphy’s The Politician—and it makes sense. Starring Ben Platt as Payton Hobart, the new dark comedy follows a neurotic teen fixated on becoming high school president. But how, exactly, does the show deliver what it promises ("everything")? To start, it features not-so-subtle jabs at our current administration, plus stellar music, a handsome cast, Gwyneth Paltrow in outrageously luxe gowns, and ridiculous lines such as the following: “It’s a pandemic of over-communication that’s led to an absence of intimacy.”
While there are myriad reasons to love this show—I personally am obsessed with how unapologetically queer it is—Platt’s skills as a trained theater actor (Dear Evan Hansen) don’t go unnoticed thanks to three scenes in which he belts out killer notes. There’s the “River” song from the pilot. Spoiler: Payton performs it as he mourns the death of his close friend (and lover) River (Corenswet). And then his take on Sondheim's "Unworthy of Your Love" from Assassins. But not to be forgotten is the song Payton sings in the eighth and final episode.
If you recall, the season 1 finale of The Politician skips straight ahead to Payton’s New York University college days, when he evidently becomes an alcoholic student yearning to figure himself out. That all changes once he’s inspired to run for New York Senate as Judith Light’s opponent, but uh, first we see Payton deliver an emotional, cocktail-fueled performance inside New York City’s Marie’s Crisis.
The song he sings is Billy Joel’s “Vienna,” and it was deliberately chosen for audiences to understand what Payton’s going through in that moment. “Lyrically, ‘Vienna’ is Payton giving advice to himself, in a way,’” Amanda Krieg Thomas, The Politician’s music supervisor, said in a statement. “Those lyrics are so on point: ‘You’re so ahead of yourself you forgot what you need.’ With ‘River,’ he was still very much this buttoned-up person, but he also really cared about River.”
Thomas explained how crucial it was to have these two musical numbers differ.
“The performances of those two songs are noticeably different from each other,” Krieg Thomas said. “With ‘Vienna,’ he’s in a completely different emotional state. So that one we really let Ben play. Payton is drunk and performing late night at a club. He’s a mess, so we encouraged him to find spots to riff and let loose… We wanted to find that delicate balance between this performative type of emotion and where it can be real, and how is that shown in a subtle way? Is that a riff or a note shift? Is it the way you’re phrasing a word? How does that manifest itself? The way it’s performed really helps the audience feel it.”
If you pay close attention during that scene, you’ll notice Payton actively stares at his cocktail multiple times—making his drinking habit explicit—and like Krieg Thomas notes, he definitely riffs throughout the tune.
Read the full lyrics to Billy Joel’s “Vienna” below, courtesy of Genius.
Slow down, you crazy child
You're so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you're so smart, tell me
Why are you still so afraid, hmm?
Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You'd better cool it off before you burn it out
You've got so much to do and only so many hours in a day-ay
But you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want or you could just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through, ooh
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?
Slow down, you're doing fine
You can't be everything you want to be before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight
Tonight
Too bad but it's the life you lead
You're so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you're wrong
You know you can't always see when you're right
You're right
You've got your passion, you've got your pride
But don't you know that only fools are satisfied?
Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true, ooh
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?
Slow down, you crazy child
And take the phone off the hook and disappear for awhile
It's all right, you can afford to lose a day or two, ooh
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?
And you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want or you could just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through, ooh
Why don't you realize, Vienna waits for you?
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?
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As the Senior Editor of OprahMag.com, I'm a jack-of-all-trades, overseeing our entertainment coverage (we cover TV shows like The Politician and Big Brother, movies such as J.Lo's Hustlers and Lena Waithe's Queen and Slim), features, news items, and— as her number one fan—all of Lady Gaga's whereabouts. I proudly edit Coming Out, a series where LGBTQ+ change-makers reflect on self-acceptance. And I edit our Weird or Wellness series, which I highly recommend you read on the weekend. Prior to O, I began my career in the fashion department at Marie Claire, and eventually moved on to InStyle, where I dabbled in social media and covered events such as the Grammys, Toronto International Film Festival, and New York Fashion Week. A native of Miami, I received my journalism degree from the University of Miami. One time, Rosario Dawson complimented my hair and asked to touch it. I let her.
