Customer Reviews

Assassins

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a fine example of 20th century writing which focuses on issues that most people would rather not think about. How many of us have sat through history class and learned that John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln and never even thought about why? What is most surprising about the play (and music) is that you really begin to understand why these people thought they should try to kill the President. Unfortunately this musical will go down as one of the most seldom performed because of it's subject matter and the fact that people will believe it promotes the assasins. Sondheim and Weidman seem to make quite a statement about gun possesion as well as the insanity of the perpetrators. Samuel Byck's monologue alone is enough reason to buy this book and I plan to use it in an audition if given the chance.

Upon a simple coincidence did I perchance to read a play that altered my perception of musical theatre forever. For years Stephen Sondheim has directed himself toward the darker side of the theatrical spectrum (i.e. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; Pacific Overtures) and when I picked up this play, I had very low expectations. After all, how can one sing and dance after shooting a president? Apparently very easily, and quite profoundly. Immediately after receiving this masterpiece of literature I purchased the CD. Folllowing this, I tried to get my high school to produce it, and I would direct, as I had a vision in my mind (the words and visual imagery are both so powerful, one can't help but imagine it). Three and a half years of trying to persuade the district to allow my madness to exist, a sister high school allowed me, this spring of 2000, to direct the final sequence for a play of one-acts. Needless to say, the thrill of watching an audience sit through one of the most disturbing scenes ever wirtten was too good an experience to pass up. It goes up in a few weeks (as of March 18, 2000), and it should knock the socks off such a conservative community as mine... The play is a marvel of the spoken word, and one can't help but wonder: Does everybody have the right to be happy? Apparently so--you can buy this book, after all.

Well, I was not very well aquainted with Sondheim, though I had heard of him. Then I was fortunate enough to be cast as Sam Byck in a production of Assassins. I have to say, the show was an experience like I can only hope to have ever again. Weidman's writing brings to life thoroughly disturbed characters in a way the audience can relate to. It shows us the world of a psychopath- looking out from the inside. My first thought was to question whether I could do justice to the material. The incredible intensity of the scenes and the forceful emotion of the songs is nearly overwhelming. From the actor's point of view, I can say only that a sense of desparation is omnipresent, even in the comedy, and that there is the feeling of a great injustice, and perhaps an epiphany that never quite came. I encourage anyone who can to try and acquire a copy of the London production( I don't know if there are any official ones, but as any theatre enthusiast knows, there are ALWAYS bootlegs), or of the new production when it becomes available, because of the added song "Something Just Broke". This incredible piece serves as an important... I think the word is catharsis. I remember crying backstage during the first show, because it put a sharp point on the events of the previous scene, where Oswald takes his shot. The play itself also brings into focus the background of the assassins, and those lesser-known souls who tried and failed( like Byck). While it won't appeal to everyone, it is definitely worth looking into for Sondheim lovers and US History buffs. And serious performers will find the songs and text rich with meaning. I recommend this show, libretto and music, to anyone with an open mind, or a love of art.

I profess to be of a young age, and those who don't know me would probably consider my experience with musical theatre to be rather inextensive. I am, however, even at a young age, a Stephen Sondheim admirer. Yet even I, whose favorite musical is the ghastly and mind-numbing masterpiece "Sweeny Todd," was not entirely prepared for the unabashed "Assassins."

Assassins combines all the would be and have been presidential assassins of the United State's history and throws them all into a timeless world where Charles Guiteau (Garfield) can chat with Leon Czolgosz (McKinley) and Sam Byck (Nixon) at a bar while John Wilkes Booth (Lincoln) reads a copy of Variety magazine. It is more of a revue than anything, but the music (which you MUST own if you're going to buy the libretto) is so moving and so powerful it actually is able to draw sympathy for Lincoln's assassin. If the prospect of feeling pity or sympathy for Lee Harvey Oswald makes you angry, Assassins is not my recommendation.

Indeed, Sondheim and Weidman sucessfully made me feel sorry for Leon Czolgosz and Booth and Oswald and nearly all the characters in the musical. Some may think it unpatriotic; I think it presents the other side to woefully biased history lessons claiming the Assassins to be vengeful madmen searching for chaos. Assassins truly brings to light what's wrong with the American dream, and for any history buff, Sondheim fan, or just plain theater fan, Assassins is a MUST have.

OK, so Sondheim isn't everybody's favourite composer, but this libretto is perhaps the cleverest, most emotive piece of theatre I have ever read. Sondheim and Weidman deal with a very tricky subject with profound intelligence. It's funny, it's sad, it's frightening, it's tense. Sondheim has always been a pioneer in musical theatre and this, I reckon, is his apex. Worth it for the penultimate scene alone! Oh, and even if you don't like Sondheim, get the soundtrack anyway because EACH of those songs is a classic.

All I can say about this play is that it is sheer genius. I was fortunate enough to see the Broadway revival cast act it out in Studio 54, thus can safely say that the play is just as shrewd and clever onstage as it seems in the play.

The thing that often repels people from 'Assassins' is firstly its subject matter - assassins and would-be assasins of presidents of the United States - and secondly, the way it handles its subject matter. 'Assassins' neither trivializes nor glorifies its characters: what it does is examine them, and let the audience make the decision as to what prompted them to commit the crimes they did. On stage, the play is chilling - seeing "Squeaky" Fromme carve an 'M' for 'Manson' into her forehead at the end of her number with John Hinckley 'Unworthy of Your Love' does not seem disgusting; it is entrancingly horrific. And this is not even mentioning the song 'How I Saved the President', the fast-paced narrative of Giuseppe Zangara's attempt on the life of President Franklin Roosevelt: it rises to an eerie feverish pitch and ends with a jolt - literally. The singing ceases only when Zangara has been electrocuted.

I realize that the above description may seem to portray 'Assassins' as a gruesome horror-trip into history - but really, that is not what it is at all. The rises and falls of emotions in the songs (apparent in the book as well as in the play) are shrewdly placed so that the viewer can't quite bring themself to feel sorry for the assassin, exactly, more fascinated. And this is what 'Assassins' is - a fascinating look at some of the most forbidden American taboo in our country's history. The play jumps on its subject matter with surprising gusto - it does not jump delicately from point to point. It attacks its topics and does not let the audience leave unshaken.

I feel as though I should probably mention that reading the book and seeing the play live are two different things. They are both thought-provoking and interesting looks at the various assassins - but a certain emotional element is lost in the text. Not that the book is bland and dry - far from it. However, seeing Charles Guiteau dance his way up to gallows feverishly reciting his poem 'I Am Going to the Lordy' is slightly more morbid than reading it.

Highly recommended.

By far the most powerful play I've ever read, or seen. Somehow Sondheim and Weidman found a way to take the most controvertial topic in the USA and turn it into a dark comedy that stretches audiences minds and makes them look at the Presidential Assassinations from a different viewpoint. A viewpoint that brought tears to hundreds of audience members nightly durring it's short Broadway run.

Unbelievable -- stunning, tragic, poignant, frightening; Sondheim and Weidman take one of the most bizarre subjects for a musical and make it totally accessible. It's a piece of theatre which doesn't just revolve around assassination, but examines what it is and what it means (or should mean) to be an American. There are moments of high hilarity (the almost vaudevillian comedy teaming of would-be Gerald Ford assassins Sara Jane Moore and "Squeaky" Fromme) as well as moments of heartbreak and pathos (the monologues of Sam Byck, who highjacked a jetliner and attempted to crash it into the White House in order to kill Richard Nixon). Certainly not a piece of musical theatre for all audiences or all tastes, but one which is compelling, innovative, and thought-provoking. A must for all fans of Stephen Sondheim's work, or for deep and complex works of theatre in general.

This review is by Crosley.

I had become very well acquainted with the score to Assassins before I read the script, and I think John Weidman may have done the impossible: he may have overshadowed Sondheim's score with his book. Don't get me wrong, the music and lyrics are phenomenal, but the book is what really matters in this one.

Assassins is an examination of the dark side of the American Dream and those it has affected, namely, those who have tried to kill presidents. Most of the assassins actually have good reasons for their efforts. The play has gained a lot of bad publicity for "glorifying assassinating the president," "being unpatriotic" and "trivializing terrible events." The play does none of these on any level. I said that some assassins had good reasons. I did not say that their actions were the right thing to do, because they weren't. However, the play rehumanizes people that society has dismissed as one dimensional madmen. Hence, the Balladeer. The Balladeer represents the traditional, one sided view of the assassins, and is used expertly. The play keeps in mind the fact that the assassins are dangerous people who should be condemned, but it also keeps in mind that they are indeed people. The scene between Csolgosz and Emma Goldman is wonderfully poignant, and allows us to see a side of Csolgosz rejected by the world, and it's things like that that make the characters much more real.

By making the characters real and at least vaguely sympathetic, the play succeeds in such a way that could never be done with demonized characters. Since the assassins are made human and just like us, Americans trying to live The Dream, they are infinetly more terrifying and frightening, because now we can identify with them, and see the clear and present danger in America.

They all have different motives, but there is one thing that ties them all together. They thought The Dream was not a goal, but something they were entitled to, and when they didn't get it, they wanted people to listen. Hence, drastic measures. Booth's anger with Lincoln is very real, and the crimes he lists against Lincoln are all true to some degree. Csolgoszs' anger at the working man's plight is completely justified, considering his working conditions and wages. Few of them have motives that we can't understand (except Moore and Guiteau), and again, they are that much worse because of it.

This is not to say that the play is not funny. Au Contraire, Assassins is one of the funnier plays I've read, mostly because it preys upon the assassins' character flaws and quirks and exploits them for some great comedy. They're even funnier if you know about the personalities of each for whatever reason. For example, regarding the scene where Guiteau hits on Moore, it was known that Guiteau hit on anything with two legs (usually unsuccessfully), and Moore, who had been married five times (each husband was more successful than the last), may have been roped in by Guiteau's line of "How would you like to marry the ambassador to France?" It's really quite good. The scenes between Moore and Fromme are priceless, as are Byck's rants into his tape recorder, hamburger in hand. "I am Unworthy of you Love" is a gorgeous song, and in context (being sung to Jody Foster and Charles Manson by John Hinckley and Squeaky Fromme, respectively), it's uproarious. Thank God for Weidman's wit, because this is a show that definetly needs comic relief.

The interesting idea that the play presents is that the assassins are just as American as anyone else, because America is "The land where any kid can grow up to be president," and likewise, "Any kid can grow up to be his killer." Comedy, tragedy, laughs, tears, a message, great music, Assassins has it all. The scene near the end with Lee Harvey Oswald is one of the most powerful scenes I've ever read. In fact, it was recorded on the soundtrack, because it's just that important. Delaying Oswald's appearance for so long was a great move, because the audience, after being emotionally assaulted by the other 8 assassins, is finally pushed over the edge with an event that most of them were alive for and remember. The triumphant chords after Oswald's shot give me shivers every time I hear them.

Assassins is a phenomenal play that unfortunately is rarely produced. I recommend reading the script and enjoying the excellent score to people looking for something a little different (hey, that's Sondheim for you), a little funny, and a little scary. The show will live on because of its relevance, and it's a wonderful addition to the American Musical Theater.

Unfortunately, too few people in mainstream America have ever heard of 'Assassins' the darkly-comic musical theatre masterpiece by Stephen Soundheim and John Weidman. While it is sad, the public's apathy toward this ingeniously-written musical actually came in useful to me this past year. A participant in high school Speech, my partner and I were searching for the 'perfect' piece that would give us success, something achieved in past years, but not to the highest levels. Veterans of the Speech circuit, and this being my final year in the program, we were looking for something that would really stand out from the competition. Almost by accident, I came across a copy of 'Assassins' and soon saw its potential. Scene 16 (a seemingly-impossible exchange between Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald and Lincoln killer John Wilkes Booth) is one of the most creative scenes of any play I have ever seen, and after examination by both my partner and I, we knew we had a winner. In addition to its unusual setting (something judges love), it blended the right amount of humor, suspense, and irony to put all other speakers simply out of the race. Thanks to Soundheim and Weidman, Nick Cook and Brad Mariska (that's me!) took home first place trophies at a number of meets during the regular season and advanced through the sub-seciton, section, and state prelims, into the final round of the state speech tournament. While we didn't take home the title, we were crowned as the 5th best speech team in Minnesota, and all audience members there that day certainly agreed (despite the results) that 'Assassins' was the most unusual and interesting piece competing that day. And we couldn't be happier.