Review: ASSASSINS Offers Another National Anthem at THE GARDEN THEATRE

Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s ASSASSINS has had a storied journey as a musical. It started as a workshop production that opened in 1990 to mostly negative reviews. Yet, in 2004, a Broadway revival racked up more Tonys than WICKED and starred a stacked deck cast of celebrities clamoring to be in it. The sardonic musical about the nine men and women who tried to kill American Presidents was suddenly fashionable and beloved. It has been one of those polarizing shows you either love to pieces or hate with a passion. THE GARDEN THEATRE never seems to shy away from a dare, so they have mounted a revival of this hot potato piece during an election season when the Republican nominee has been shot at twice. Timing seems to be everything with this troop. The show is more about voices not being heard rather than political violence, but it’s certainly a volatile time to mediate on taking out the leader of the free world. I mean, there is an entire quartet song dedicated to the love of guns. Are audiences going to eat this up or run away as fast as they can? Thankfully, the talent on display will keep you in your seat, and with no intermission, you don’t have much choice. Ironically, like the historical figures they portray, some hit and some miss. But overall this show is intriguing enough to put on your “must-see” list.    

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The show ASSASSINS is a history lesson about every person who has attempted to kill a sitting President of the United States. Yet, it is all presented as a musical revue. We get a song describing their attempt and then a mix of fantasy sequences where the infamous figures of history commune and wonder about what their acts mean. Some folks get more fleshing out, while some appear without much explanation. A small chorus acts as bystanders or Presidents when they need to be there. And there are two figures that help to run the “dark carnival” that the show is presenting. We have “the Proprietor” of the shooting range, who often acts as the devilish imp encouraging the killers to move forward. Then there is “the Balladeer,” who seems to be the optimistic voice of America, claiming you can still be anything in this great country. No fair guessing who the assassins of the show want to shut up and come to the dark side. 

The biggest strength of this GARDEN THEATRE version of ASSASSINS is the cast. Ethan Spell makes for a wonderful perky Balladeer, and he has one of the strongest singing voices present. His tone is bright and cheery, and he navigates the data dumps of his historical patter songs with finesse. Gabriel Mullen acquits himself well as John Wilkes Booth, the de facto leader of this rouges gallery. He has a rich baritone and a wonderful Southern drawl that works to create the Confederate villain and first assassin of the United States. Matthew Lawrence is one of the strongest Charles Guiteau’s I have ever seen, and I have sat through this particular Sondheim show a lot. There’s something charming about his song and dance that just exudes the right amount of joy and optimism despite the fact that he is being executed for killing James A. Garfield. Dalton Hutto is amazing as Sam Byck. He is given two monologues in the show, but might as well sing them! His intimate choreography with a tape recorder is wonderfully executed, and we hang on to every rhythmic word he launches as the character. The whole ensemble is tight, and they all sing very well. Gillian Grace’s Sarah Jane Moore is super fun and comedically sound. The evil-minded Proprieter is portrayed by Robby Black, who certainly has a gleeful menace but had a microphone that killed his opening number. His low register is thinner than it should be, but he’s certainly a presence recalling the miasma of Alan Cumming’s Emcee is CABARET. There is nothing weak about this ensemble, and ASSASSINS is a show where nobody is truly the star, so the collective is what needs to be done right. And they are all up to this task!  

What surprised me was how safe this iteration of ASSASSINS felt particularly with technical aspects. Director Logan Vaden has obviously taken many cues from the 2004 Broadway version of the show, but he opts to go with guns that do not fire and relies on sound cues for the bullet discharges. They hardly startle and do not have the impact of true shots. He attempts to get his cast to never point a weapon at an audience member, which makes for awkward sequences in a three-quarter thrust stage. Nicholas White and he have put these armed actors in a largely white shooting gallery with little decoration. It feels plain and not as much fun as it could be. It’s less a carnival and more of a blank stall. There’s not much attention paid to making the actors look like historical figures or even of their time at any moment, and almost all the shootings and executions are played offstage. He’s, in essence, de-fanged the show a bit. It’s a little too nice and almost apologetic about what it is flaunting.      

The choreography from Courtney Chilton is about as hit-and-miss as the assassination attempts. Sometimes, it feels ingenious, and other times, it is unintentionally funny. The Charles Guiteau sequence is dazzling, but then the entire cast seems to have these weird seizures during “Another National Anthem.” And they make an amorphous blob version of a human centipede behind Lee Harvey Oswald in the climax. I giggled at the Twyla Tharp parody of it all. The music direction from Brandon Tanner is strong, but the use of an overly loud backing track and a mix of microphones at various levels presented challenges. Most of the actors could sing in this space without the white bulbs in front of them; the theater is small. You need these in a huge hall, but not in such an intimate setting. 

Yet when all is said and done, you have to applaud the bravery of this show. In an October where everyone else is offering safe fare such as British comedies, yet another take on Dracula, and an additional adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, this small company is daring you to face what might be wrong with America. It is a huge swing for the fences, and it is remarkably well-performed and produced. Even if I wanted more menace, this is still a wonderful cast doing remarkable music. It’s something to be proud of, and I wanted to embrace it even if I found fault with some of the choices. One of the most controversial scenes will be the final tableau. It’s wry, raw, and a bit naughty. I can’t decide if it was genius or in bad taste, and that may well be where Logan Vaden genuinely captures the spirit of the original intent of ASSASSINS. Hey, take your final shot because “everybody’s got the right…” 

ASSASSINS plays at the MATCH through October 27th. It’s the perfect production to prepare you for early voting. The show runs about an hour and forty-five minutes without any intermission. So if you feel the urge before the opening curtain, high-tail it to the facilities. There are plenty of parking options and quite a few eateries within walking distance.

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