Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by John Weidman, based on an original concept by Charles Gilbert Jr.
Using the framing device of an all-American, yet sinister, carnival game, the semi-revue portrays a group of historical figures who attempted to assassinate presidents of the United States, and explores what their presence in American history says about the ideals of their country. The score is written to reflect both popular music of the various depicted eras and a broader tradition of "patriotic" American music.
The musical opened Off-Broadway in 1990 to many mixed and negative reviews, and ran for 73 performances; in 2004, the show was produced on Broadway to highly favorable notices and won five Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical.
Background and productions Background In 1979, as a panelist at producer Stuart Ostrow's Musical Theater Lab, Sondheim read a script by playwright Charles Gilbert Jr. entitled Assassins. Inspired by its title and use of quotations from various historical figures who had attempted to assassinate American Presidents, Sondheim asked Gilbert for permission to use his idea. Gilbert consented and offered to write the book, but Sondheim declined, having already had collaborator John Weidman in mind. Weidman had written the book for Pacific Overtures and would work with Sondheim again on Road Show.
Gilbert's original concept involved a fictional Vietnam War veteran who becomes an assassin and around this central narrative he had woven diary entries, poems, and newspaper reports of historical assassins. Sondheim and Weidman, having no interest in the fictional element, focused the musical solely on the historical figures. Five assassins appear in both versions: John Wilkes Booth, Charles J. Guiteau, Leon Czolgosz, Giuseppe Zangara, and Squeaky Fromme. The model for Gilbert's protagonist, Lee Harvey Oswald, also appears in the musical. The musical omits three assassins included in Gilbert’s script—Arthur Bremer (cut in rehearsals, but mentioned by name), Sirhan Sirhan (mentioned by name only), and John Schrank—and instead features Samuel Byck, Sara Jane Moore, and John Hinckley Jr., the last of whom had not yet attempted an assassination when Gilbert's version was written.
Aside from the title, Sondheim and Weidman also retained Gilbert's distinctive conceptual metaphor of the shooting gallery, presided over by a character called Fat Man (somewhat analogous to Weidman’s Proprietor) who is encouraging would-be assassins to "shoot the Prez and win a prize."
The first staged reading of the musical, at Playwrights Horizons on December 18, 1989, was directed by Jerry Zaks and featured Anthony Heald (Czolgosz), Paul McCrane (Hinckley), Michael Jeter (Zangara), Jonathan Hadary (Guiteau), Swoosie Kurtz (Fromme), Christine Baranski (Moore), Victor Garber (Booth), Kevin Anderson (Balladeer/Oswald) and Nathan Lane (Byck).
Productions
Assassins opened Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons on December 18, 1990, and closed on February 16, 1991, after 73 performances. Directed by Jerry Zaks the cast included Victor Garber, Terrence Mann, Patrick Cassidy, Debra Monk, Greg Germann, and Annie Golden. According to the Los Angeles Times, "The show has been sold out since previews began, reflecting the strong appeal of Sondheim's work among the theater crowd."Fox, David."Critics Say 'Assassins' Will Have to Bite the Bullet : Stage: Some reviewers find Stephen Sondheim's Off Broadway musical fails to hit the target." Los Angeles Times, January 29, 1991 Frank Rich in his review for The New York Times wrote that "Assassins will have to fire with sharper aim and fewer blanks if it is to shoot to kill."Evans, Greg. "Crix Hang 'Assassins;' B'way Out of Range?" Variety (Feb 4, 1991): 95. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 147. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002Rich, Frank."Review/Theater; Sondheim and Those Who Would Kill", nytimes.com, January 28, 1991. Only 140 subscribers could be seated for each performance. Billboard magazine noted that "Diehard Sondheim fans lined up outside the theater for up to 10 hours before curtain time, hoping to obtain cancellations, but only a few of them made it into the theater."Mandelbaum, Ken. "'Assassins' Brought Back Alive on CD." Billboard 103:31 (August 3, 1991), 50.
On October 29, 1992, Assassins opened in London at the Donmar Warehouse with direction by Sam Mendes and a cast that included Henry Goodman as Charles Guiteau and Louise Gold as Sara Jane Moore. The show ran for 76 performances, closing on January 9, 1993.
The first US regional production was mounted at Theatre Three in Dallas, July 15, 1992. The second was mounted by Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia in August 1992. The San Jose Civic Light Opera in San Jose, California, presented a production in 1993, which featured the world premiere of the 13-piece orchestration by Michael Starobin. The Los Angeles premiere opened in 1994 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center and included Patrick Cassidy (the original Balladeer) playing Booth, and Alan Safier as Guiteau.
The first Australian production opened in February 1995, presented by the Melbourne Theatre Company at the Fairfax Studio. Directed by Roger Hodgman, the cast featured John O'May, John McTernan and Bruce Myles.
Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway production was originally scheduled for 2001 but was postponed to April 22, 2004, because the content was sensitive in light of the events of the September 11 attacks. After 101 performances at Studio 54, Assassins closed on July 18, 2004. Directed by Joe Mantello, with musical staging by Jonathan Butterell, Neil Patrick Harris starred in the roles of The Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald, with Marc Kudisch in an extended role as The Proprietor. Michael Cerveris played John Wilkes Booth, for which he received a Tony Award. The 2004 production was noted for a coup de théâtre: the Zapruder film of the assassination of John F. Kennedy projected onto Lee Harvey Oswald's T-shirt by projection designer Elaine J. McCarthy. On December 3, 2012, the Broadway cast reunited for a special benefit. Annaleigh Ashford stood in for Mary Catherine Garrison.
Other professional productions have included a 2006 production at Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, a 2008 production which ran from January 23 to February 2, 2008, at the Landor Theatre, London,Giorgetti, Sandra."Assassins",The British Theatre Guide, review, 2008"Assassins – Landor Theatre",Indie London listing, date unk The South African premiere opened in December 2008 as the inaugural production of the NewSpace Theatre in Cape Town. This production was directed by Fred Abrahamse with a South African cast including Marcel Meyer as John Wilkes Booth, Riaan Norval as Lee Harvey Oswald, David Dennis as Charles J. Guiteau and Anthea Thompson as Sara Jane Moore. A 2010 production in Toronto by BirdLand Theatre and Talk is Free Theatre won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production in the Musical Theatre Division.
The Union Theatre, London produced Assassins in July 2010, and would received the Offie for Best (overall) Production. It was staged and directed by Michael Strassen. It attained Show of the Week and Critics choice in Time Out.Attention Finally Must Be Paid Blogs.thestage.co.ukReviews assassinslondon.co.ukOfficial Site, Strassen, Michaelstrassen.com
A new production of Assassins starring Catherine Tate as Sarah Jane Moore, Aaron Tveit as John Wilkes Booth, Mike McShane as Samuel Byck, Andy Nyman as Charles Guiteau, and Jamie Parker as the Balladeer opened on November 21, 2014, at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London and ran until March 7, 2015 directed by Jamie Lloyd.Assassins, Londonboxoffice.co.uk
Assassins was produced in the 2016-2017 season at Yale Repertory Theatre from March 17 to April 8, 2017. The Cast included Robert Lenzi as John Wilkes Booth, Stephen DeRosa as Charles Guiteau, and Julia Murney as Sara Jane Moore
Assassins was produced in the 2017 season of Encores! Off Center at the New York City Center from July 12–15 of that year, with a cast including Steven Pasquale as John Wilkes Booth, Victoria Clark as Sara Jane Moore, Alex Brightman as Giuseppe Zangara, and Shuler Hensley as Leon Czolgosz.
In October/November 2019 The Watermill Theatre Newbury and Nottingham Playhouse co-produced a new version in the UK, using a full cast of actor/musicians for the first time. The role of the Balladeer was switched to a female part for this production. A poignant moment was added at the end of the final scene, where a young child walks onto the stage from the audience, retrieves a gun from the vending machine (from which the main characters received their weapons at the start of the show) and fires the final gunshot out into the crowd.
John Doyle was to direct an Off-Broadway production at Classic Stage Company scheduled for 2020. On September 24, 2019, it was announced that the cast would include Judy Kuhn as Sara Jane Moore, Will Swenson as Charles Guiteau, Brandon Uranowitz as Leon Czolgosz, Wesley Taylor as Giuseppe Zangara, and Pasquale reprising his role as John Wilkes Booth. Other additions to the cast include Ethan Slater as Lee Harvey Oswald/The Balladeer and Tavi Gevinson as Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme. "Ethan Slater Joins Assassins Off-Broadway", TheaterMania.com, January 13, 2020 The show was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On September 9, 2021 it was announced that the production would begin performances on November 2, 2021 - January 8, 2022 with an official opening on November 14, 2021. And on November 9, 2021, it was announced that the production would extend through to January 29, 2022. The production ended up officially closing January 24, 2022 due to positive COVID-19 cases in the company. On March 18, 2022, a cast recording album of this production received a wide digital release, which featured all songs as well as an abridged version of the climactic scene between Booth and Oswald. In May 2022, there was a concert staging of this production performed at Broadway's Stephen Sondheim Theatre with the cast reuniting for the performance.Broski, Jennifer Photos: ASSASSINS Concert Cast Takes Their Bows, BroadwayWorld.com, May 10, 2022
In June 2023, a revival played at the Chichester Festival Theatre in West Sussex, United Kingdom. The production starred Danny Mac as Booth, Luke Brady as Zangara, Peter Forbes as the Proprietor, Harry Hepple as Guiteau, Nick Holder as Byck, Charlotte Jaconelli as Goldman, and Jack Shalloo as Hinckley.
Cast and characters