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Assassins
Presented by: Williamstown Musical Theatre Company
Venue: Williamstown Mechanics Institute
Reviewer: Keith Stubley
Date Reviewed: Friday, 13th November 2009
Dressed in motley garb ranging from Victorian finery (John Wilkes
Booth) to worker's rags (Leon Czolgosz) to shopping-mall leisure
wear (John Hinckley), this chorus line is entirely populated by that
not-so-exclusive club of men and women who have tried, with and
without success, to kill the President of the United States. While
their song may echo the sentiments in dozens of other Broadway
musicals -- "Everybody's got the right to their dreams" goes a lyric
-- the singers' expressions are variously glassy-eyed and vacant,
demented and smiling, angry and psychopathic. Everyone strutting in
this procession packs, and eventually points, a gun.
The
effect of this recurrent chorus line, a striking image in a diffuse
evening, is totally disorienting, as if someone had removed a huge
boulder from the picturesque landscape of American history to expose
to light all the mutant creatures that had been hiding in the
dankness underneath. In Assassins, Mr. Sondheim, and the
writer John Weidman, say the unthinkable, though they sometimes do
so in a deceptively peppy musical-comedy tone. Without exactly
asking that the audience sympathize with some of America’s most
notorious criminals, this show insists on reclaiming them as
products, however defective, of the same values and traditions as
the men they tried to murder.
The
original production opened off-Broadway in 1990, followed by a West
End season in 1992, the Broadway revival in 2004 won five Tony
awards.
The
wonderful cast, under direction by Chris Hughes and the musical
Direction by Joseph Beckitt, creates two required dimensions: that
these be loners and that they form a strange historical
collective.
Both chronologically and artistically, the obvious starting point
is John Wilkes Booth (Shaun Kingma), the actor who killed Abraham
Lincoln in a theatre. From Booth to John Hinckley (Michael
Bingham), the actors connect these misfits to their era, to their
bizarre motivations, and to each other.
Assassins
is a black comedy clubhouse the way the Righteous Brothers' "Rock
and Roll Heaven" is a Top 40 gathering spot for deceased pop
stars. A Balladeer (Nicholas Kong) and a "Proprietor" (Gavin D
Andrew) alternate major domo functions to introduce and interact
with the would-be executioners.
In
addition to Booth and Hinckley, there are Charles Guiteau (Angelo
De Cata), who killed James A. Garfield; Leon Czolgosz (David
Gardette), who killed William McKinley; Guiseppe Zangara (Edward
Howard), who attempted to kill FDR, but killed the Mayor of
Chicago beside him; Samuel Byck (Adrian Carr), who plotted to kill
Richard Nixon; Sara Jane Moore (Lauren Elise) and Lynette Fromme
(Amy Larsen), who attempted to shoot Gerald Ford; and Lee Harvey
Oswald (Brett Whittingham), who killed JFK and Emma Goldman
(Amelia Rope) (The above synopsis and quote are from Frank Rich of
the New York Times). When I read the quote it summed up the
essence of the piece.
I
could rave on about (assassinate) all the performers as they were
all exceptional. My words could not do them justice, seeing is
believing. With a stellar cast such as this Director Chris Hughes
has struck gold in this production.
The
Ensemble: Lisa Athans, Ruth Bishop, Colleen Johnson, Scott Dunsdon,
Simon Parris, Robert Harsley, Elijah and Xavier Beckitt were a
delight as they portrayed their role and each in their own right
is a performer of the highest quality.
Director Chris Hughes should be congratulated for crafting a superb
piece of theatre – he obviously understood the content well. His
direction was simple but it gave each performer what they needed to
create believable characters.
Technically it was a highlight. For the first time in a long time I
heard every word that came out of the performers’ mouths and not
once did I hear feed back, which was a pleasure. Congratulations to
LSS Productions, they got it right and I could hear the beautiful
music and still understand every word that was spoken or sung. Not
once did I fight to hear any thing.
Lighting design by Jason Bovaird and Deryk Hartwick was
exceptional.
Deryk’s drama background and Jason’s musical background gelled
beautifully. I don’t want to give too much away but there is a fire
scene at the beginning of the show and the lighting was amazing you
could “feel the heat”. Pardon the pun and congratulations to you
both on a beautifully lit show,
Set
Design by Chris Hughes was simple but effective and all components
worked well and were used to there fullest, scenic artistry by Chris
White was exceptional as always.
I do
have one small gripe. For those people who know me I have some
padding in the lower area (butt), that said, I would advise you all
to bring a cushion to the performances as the seating is rather
firm. Even for padded lower derrières you will need something
comfortable to rest it on as the show is a one act piece and you
will sit there for and hour and forty minutes - not that it takes
anything away from the performance. To the production team,
congratulations on a brilliant show and to Williamstown Theatre
Company, congrats on producing a stellar piece of theatre. If you
only see one show a year or if you are seeing ten shows in the next
two weeks make sure you see Assassins. The price of a ticket
it is worth it to assassinate or try to assassinate a President.
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