Assassins (musical)
| Musical dates | |
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| Original title: | Assassins |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Stephen Sondheim |
| Book: | John Weidman |
| Lyrics: | Stephen Sondheim |
| Premiere: | 1990 |
| Place of premiere: | Playwrights Horizons Off-Broadway in New York City |
| Place and time of the action: | a fairground today |
Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman (book), based on an idea by Charles Gilbert jr. It's about nine men and women who tried to kill various American presidents - and were more or less successful in doing so. The music adapts to the respective epochs represented. The musical premiered in 1990 and won five Tony Awards in 2004 .
Production history
As a panelist at the Musical Theater Lab run by producer Stuart Ostrow, Sondheim got to read a script written by the playwright Charles Gilbert, and he asked permission to use his ideas. Gilbert agreed and offered to rewrite it, but Sondheim already had John Weidman in mind. Weidman had previously written the book for Pacific Overtures .
content
The play begins at the shooting range on a fairground. As if on an assembly line, one assassin after the other appears on the stage, and the stall owner distributes weapons to them. Gradually, men and women attempt to assassinate presidents, which sometimes succeed and sometimes not. At the end of the play, they point their guns at the audience and open fire.
roll
Fictional characters
- The owner of the shooting range: the shooting gallery owner who equips the characters with weapons at the beginning of the show
- The songwriter: teller of the story
Historical figures
- John Wilkes Booth: Assassin of President Abraham Lincoln
- David Herold: John Wilkes Booth's accomplice in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln
- Charles J. Guiteau: assassin of President James Garfield
- President James Garfield: 20th President of the United States
- James Blaine: a Secretary of State
- Leon Czolgosz: assassin of President William McKinley
- Emma Goldman: a well-known anarchist
- Giuseppe Zangara: assassin of President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Lee Harvey Oswald: alleged murderer of President John F. Kennedy
- Samuel Byck: assassin of President Richard Nixon
- John W. Hinckley Jr .: President Ronald Reagan assassin
- Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme: Assassin of President Gerald Ford
- Sara Jane Moore: President Gerald Ford assassin
- President Gerald Ford: 38th President of the United States
- Billy: Sara Jane Moore's son
premiere
The play premiered on December 18, 1990 at Playwrights Horizons and was there for 73 performances until February 16, 1991, where it was sold out from the start. Jerry Zaks directed it.
Further productions
On October 29, 1992, Assassins was performed at Donmar Warehouse in London under the direction of Sam Mendes . The show ran for 76 performances through January 9, 1993.
In a co-production with the Berlin University of the Arts and the Kleist Forum Frankfurt (Oder) , Assassins was performed on June 13, 2002 at the Neukölln Opera in Berlin (directed by Peter Lund ).
From April 22, 2004, the piece was shown 101 performances in Studio 54 (director: Joe Mantello). This production was honored with the Tony Award in 2004.
The South African premiere was in December 2008 at the NewSpace Theater in Cape Town.
A 2010 production by the BirdLand Theater and Talk is Free Theater in Toronto won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Musical Production.
From November 21, 2014 to March 7, 2015, the play was revived at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London (Director: Jamie Lloyd).
The play was performed at the Schauspielhaus Linz from April 7 to June 16, 2018 (director: Evgeny Titov).
Notable line-ups
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John Wilkes Booth (1838-65)
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Charles J. Guiteau (1841-82)
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Leon Czolgosz (1873-1901)
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Lee Harvey Oswald (1939-63)
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| role | Original premiere of Playwright's Horizons |
Premiere at London Donmar Warehouse |
Broadway Premiere Studio 54 |
Resumption in London Menier Chocolate Factory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The owner of the shooting range | William Parry | Paul Bentley | Marc Kudisch | Simon Lipkin |
| The songwriter | Patrick William Cassidy | Anthony Barclay | Neil Patrick Harris | Jamie Parker |
| John Wilkes Booth | Victor Garber | David Firth | Michael Cerveris | Aaron Tveit |
| Charles Guiteau | Jonathan Hadary | Henry Goodman | Denis O'Hare | Andy Nyman |
| Leon Czolgosz | Terrence man | Jack Ellis | James Stacy Barbour | David Roberts |
| Giuseppe Zangara | Eddie Korbich | Paul Harrhy | Jeffrey Kuhn | Stewart Clarke |
| Lynette "Squeaky" Pious | Annie Golden | Catheryn Bradshaw | Mary Catherine Garrison | Carly Bawden |
| Sara Jane Moore | Debra Monk | Louise Gold | Becky Ann Baker | Catherine Tate |
| John Hinckley, Jr. | Greg Germann | Michael Cantwell | Alexander Gemignani | Harry Morrison |
| Samuel Byck | Lee Wilkof | Ciarán Hinds | Mario Cantone | Mike McShane |
| Lee Harvey Oswald | Jace Alexander | Gareth Snook | Neil Patrick Harris | Jamie Parker |
| David Herold | Marcus Olson | Kevin Walton | Brandon Wardell | |
| Emma Goldman | Lyn Greene | Sue Kelvin | Anne L. Nathan | Melle Stewart |
| A housewife | (NN) | Michelle Fine | Kendra Kassebaum |
List of songs (selection)
- "Everybody's Got The Right"
- "The Ballad of Booth"
- "How I Saved Roosevelt"
- "The Gun Song"
- "The Ballad of Czolgosz"
- "Unworthy of Your Love"
- "The Ballad of Guiteau"
- "Another National Anthem"
- "November 22, 1963"
- "Something Just Broke"
- "Everybody's Got The Right"
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Cerveris (2008). "Story of Assassins". Amazing Journey. Accessed August 9, 2008.
- ^ 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, Jan. 29, 1991
- ^ "31st Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards" ( Memento from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). www.tapa.ca. June 28, 2010. Accessed January 18, 2011.