There’s a particular kind of cursed vibe that’s everywhere. It’s all over culture. The news vibrates with it. It may be even key to understanding the way art and politics feed each other right now.

Written with wry humor and perspicacity by Robert Kaplow, whose novel was the basis of Linklater’s 2008 feature, Me and Orson Welles, the new film again is set in the world of Broadway and expands on ...