by Deirdre Donovan

 

The American loser gets his day in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins.  Sondheim’s 1990 vaudeville musical features two centuries of villains who have tried to kill the U. S. President.  Some succeeded, others didn’t.  But one thing was believed by all these historical reprobates, and dramatized by the Proprietor in the show’s opening song:  “Everybody’s got the right to be different . . . everybody’s got the right to their dreams.”

 

A lucky few in New York had a chance to see Assassins in a scaled-down concert version at New York City Center Encores! Off-Center series (July 12^th through 15^th).  This iteration had much going for it.  Helmed by Anne Kauffman, it presented a 17-member cast with the likes of Victoria Clark (Light in the Piazza), Shuler Hensley (No Man’s Land), Steven Boyer (Hand to God), Alex Brightman (School of Rock), to mention a few.  While all the performers in this show have earned their theatrical stripes over the years, this new outing of Sondheim’s chilling musical brought out the devilish talent in each of them. Here they could be a part of a theatrical endeavor in which good taste is eschewed and the bad boys and girls of American history get thrust into the spotlight to criticize Uncle Sam (and the sitting President of their day). 

 

Sound bizarre?  Well, Assassins is well-known as that musical that explores the cultural psychosis behind the wholesome image of the American Dream.  In short, it shows us that the country that gave us a John F. Kennedy, also gave us a Lee Harvey Oswald. 

 

Victoria Clark                          Photos by Joan Marcus

 

What actors stood out in this Assassins?  No doubt Clark deserves kudos for her turn as Sara Jane Moore.  If you need a refresher on this demented woman, Moore is the would-be assassin who missed her presidential target (that would be President Ford) in San Francisco in 1975 and hit a taxi driver instead.  Casting Clark as Moore in this show definitely cemented her reputation for being a protean actor who is amazingly resourceful.  Who else but Clark can slip into a persona in a wink and have you feel that she was born to play the part?  Clark also brought some delicious comic relief to the show when she took target practice with her gun, aiming it at a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket.  Say what you will about taste in this musical, this scene is finger-lickin’ good.

 

Another standout in the cast was Steven Pasquale playing the infamous actor John Wilkes Booth who shot you-know-who at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.  His “Ballad of Booth” (sung with Clifton Duncan) was utterly riveting.  It dusted off some well-known facts and speculations on Booth (His assassination of Lincoln coincided with the time that he was feeling depressed over his bad reviews).  Sondheim’s sketch of Booth has a rich Shakespearean underlining in it, which Pasquale wonderfully teased out in his performance at City Center.  Pasquale, as Booth, looked up at a supposed theater box, with the other assassins on stage following his gaze.  A beat later, Pasquale’s Booth said “excuse me” and exits.  We soon hear a gunshot—followed by the words that Booth is reported to have shouted after shooting Lincoln:  “Sic Semper Tyrannis! (translates “Thus always to tyrants!)  While there were other breath-stopping moments in the show, Pasquale’s impassioned phrase here had the emotional impact of an exclamation mark.

 

 

Victoria Clark (Sara Jane Moore), John Ellison Conlee (Charles Guiteau), Shuler Hensley (Leon Czolgosz), and Steven Pasquale (John Wilkes Booth)

 

Watching the carnival-like show unfold scene by diabolical scene became a lens into the souls of disillusioned—and dispossessed--persons.  During this two-hour show, one sees each assassin pass the baton—or rather gun--on to the next assassin who would try to kill the U.S. president.  No doubt this is meant to intensify the horror of each presidential murder (or attempted murder) and dramatize how history was changed by pathological sharpshooters.  In fact, the imaginary conversation between Booth and Oswald (Cory Michael Smith) that comes at the musical’s end has a terrifying Faustian flavor to it.

 

While this revival of Assassins had some bang-up (pardon the pun) numbers like the aforementioned “Everybody’s Got the Right” and “The Ballad of Booth,” as well as some fine acting, this production was in need of more oomph.   With more polishing, it might have a future on a New York stage.  But who the devil knows just when or where?

 

July 12^th through July 15^th.

At New York City Center, Main Stage, 131 West 55^th Street, Manhattan.

For more information on Encores! Off Center series, visit http://www.nycitycenter.org

Running Time:  Approximately 2 hours with one intermission.

 

Editor’s note:

 While this production of Assassins was not “enhanced” to add relevance to today’s political climate, as in the recent Shakespeare in the  Park’s production of Julius Caesar, it was nevertheless a risky choice as the president’s approval plummets along with decreased gun control.

At the Roundabout’s 2004 Broadway production there was no standing ovation, so common today, when the cast took their final bow with guns aimed at them.

                                                                              Jeanne Lieberman.