Arlington — Signature Theater in Arlington is staging the musical comedy, "The Fix" by John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe, from now through Sept. 20.

When a popular presidential candidate dies in his mistress’s arms, his ambitious wife, Violet, immediately declares that if she can’t be the wife of the president, then she’ll be the mother of the president — and thrusts their son Cal into the spotlight. With the help of her strategic brother-in-law, Violet transforms her son into the perfect citizen and ideal politician. Together, they create one of the most dysfunctional, yet brutally entertaining, almost-first families.

With a rock-laced, eclectic score and scandalous lyrics, the team behind "The Witches of Eastwick" and "Brother Russia" skewers the American bureaucratic machine. It’s "The Manchurian Candidate" meets "Caligula," with a voice all its own.

Larry Redmond plays the role of Grahame Chandler, the older of two brothers in a political family headed towards the White House. "Grahame is the political strategist, as well as polio survivor, and he's in the closet as well; two things that keep him out of the public eye in the setting of the 1960s," said Redmond.

As far as challenges, he said he needed to find a role model for the 1960s for both look and style and even voice. "I found him in Washington Post columnist Joe Alsop. Very Patrician, an elder brother, and also closeted, but immensely powerful," he said. "Grahame is a polio survivor growing up in a world where you still had 'ugly laws' that banned people with disabilities from public places. It resonates in a huge production number called 'Mercy Me.'"

He hopes the audience takes away that the political world they show on stage may not be as sophisticated as today's emphasis on money and data analytics, but it's still about people. "Raw naked ambition paired with family dysfunction," he said.

"We've been satirizing politicians in this country since its founding. Our show is an editorial cartoon turned into a graphic novel with a musical score," he said. He added that director Eric Schaeffer calls it, "The Manchurian Candidate meets Caligula."

Rachel Zampelli plays the role of Tina McCoy, an ex-stripper and a junkie who now does a little lounge singing and also works in "sales."

As far as challenges, she said that because she only appears twice in the first act, and her first entrance comes 40 pages in, it was important to be clear and as detailed as possible in creating her connection with Cal and the audience. "It seemed to me that in the world of 'The Fix,' everything is so huge, heightened, polished and hard-edged except for Tina and the relationship between Cal and Tina," she said.

Her second challenge was her number called 'Mistress of Deception' in Act II. "My challenge was making sense of and developing an emotional connection to a fantastic, yet extremely abstract song." During the first week of rehearsals, she hashed it out with writer John Dempsey. "It was such a blessing that, as a writer, he is so open to collaboration. He listened to the thoughts and ideas I brought to the table and added his own insight, which was extremely helpful."

She added: "As we got deeper into the rehearsal process the collaboration continued as both Eric Schaeffer and Matthew Gardiner offered invaluable insight to get me to the very detailed, very solid, very truthful place I needed to be to do good work."

Signature Theatre is staging "The Fix" now through Sept. 20. Speciality Nights include Discussion Nights on Aug. 26 and Sept. 8, 2015; Pride Night on Sept. 11, 2015; and Open Captioned Performances on Aug. 30, 2015 at 2 p.m. and Sept. 15, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $96 to $40. The venue is located at 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Visit the website at www.sigtheatre.org.