Review: Mad Theatre of Tampa Hits the Bull's-Eye with Their Production of Sondheim's ASSASSINS

"No, the country is not what it was." -John Wilkes Booth in ASSASSINS

I waited in line at the Costco pharmacy a few weeks ago when I saw the most public display of anger toward the modern world in my life. It involved three people standing in line in front of me: A middle aged nondescript man; an older woman that would be the dictionary definition of what my students call a "Karen"; and a man in his 70's who looked like Santa Clause merged with one of the Deliverance woodsmen. They were screaming about gas prices and Hunter Biden, pining for the days of the previous president, and seething their ultimate rage at the man currently occupying the white house. "I want to shoot Biden!" the demented Santa said aloud for anyone to hear. The poor girl behind the pharmacy counter looked at me wide-eyed in horror. These people were crazy, off the charts, and I realized one third of Americans probably feel the way they do. What shook me was that their fury was so open, so transparent, in a Costco instead of the comfort of their living room. And then I thought--to prove my musical theater nerd cred--"These three people need to be in Sondheim's ASSASSINS. They would fit right in."

ASSASSINS is Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's musical salute to the unhinged, the disenfranchised, the loathsome lonesome losers of the world. Imagine a bizarro Hall of Presidents in a demented Disney World but with the infamous shooters or wannabe-killers of Presidents instead of an animatronic Millard Fillmore or Herbert Hoover. Leave it to the ballsy people of Mad Theatre of Tampa to put this show on in this climate, a climate where even a trip to Costco can leave you rattled. And they hit the bull's-eye more often than not with what Sondheim calls his most "perfect" musical (although I think that honor should go to Sweeney Todd). ASSASSINS is certainly his darkest and may be the darkest of all musicals in its own way. Yes, they eat people in pies in Sweeney Todd, but it's fiction; here, these people are based on real individuals whose actions shook America to its core.

And this has an absolutely marvelous cast with some familiar faces and several I've never seen before.

Leading the pack of assassins is Trevor Lloyd as John Wilkes Booth. He is so strong a performer that the show becomes about John Wilkes Booth; he's the leader and he's the one we recall after. Mr. Lloyd is an incredible presence onstage, and he rises to the occasion in a part that any actor would, for lack of a better word, kill for. He looks like Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie in Django Unchained merged with Cary Elwes as Westley in The Princess Bride. He commands the stage, and when he talks about attention being paid, we can't help but pay attention. To him. This is a fantastic performance, bigger than life yet so human, and so sadly funny. Mr. Lloyd is so good that you get the feeling for the first time that had Booth traveled a different path, he could have been a great man...had he not killed the greatest president of all time.

I first saw Trevor Lloyd in New Tampa Player's Beauty and the Beast several years ago. He had a relatively small part, as L'Darque, the head of the asylum. And he stole the entire show. Forget Belle and the Beast; we wanted to know more about this mysterious soul who only had a handful of lines. Mr. Lloyd proved then that no part is too small. And here, all these years later, he is the lead in one of Sondheim's finest musicals, and you see before your eyes that this young actor's promise, shown to me way back when, is now truly being fulfilled. There is a moment when he holds the note of the word "traitor" so long that you expect his face to get beet-red; it reminded me of that old commercial with Ella Fitzgerald's shattering a glass simply with her voice: "Is it live or is it Memorex?" Magnificent work.

The Balladeer, as played by Bryan Vitalo, has long hair, looking not unlike Kenny G or Kyle Mooney playing Berger in a touring company of Hair. Mr. Vitalo is quite a find, immensely talented with a terrific singing voice, but something is missing. I wonder if it's because he appears only briefly throughout the show rather than never leaving the stage as an audience surrogate (with a key twist of his own). We never feel he's one of us as he tells the various tales, and the transformation doesn't quite succeed. I'm still working my way through this, trying to figure out why the ending's punch, his final scenes, didn't hit me nearly as hard as it has in productions of ASSASSINS past; it feels like a tap here when it should be a wallop.

Jonathan O'Brien looks so much like John Hinckley, Jr.--President Reagan's shooter who wished to woo Jodie Foster--that you take in a sudden, shocked breath the moment you see him. He's wonderful, off-putting and geeky. Jay Morgan as Sam Byck, who wanted to crash a plane into the White House to off President Nixon, gives his usual stage-owning performance; behind that smile is an atomic bomb ready to explode.

Chris Cordero as Guiseppe Zangara, an immigrant who tries to shoot FDR, is sensational. His singing voice is tops, but I had trouble figuring out some of the lyrics in his big song, "How I Saved Roosevelt," due to the heavy accent. Richard Brown, looking a lot like Clive Owen, plays Leon Czolgosz, President McKinley's killer. He has a remarkably strong singing voice and stage presence.

Miranda Harrison-Quillin is hilariously frumpy as the housewife who tries to shoot President Ford, Sara Jane Moore. (She gets her rocks off by shooting a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.) I saw Ms. Harrison-Quillin as Fraulein Schneider in Mad's Cabaret years ago, and she was way too young for that part. Here, she's right on point, and she may be the most dangerous one of them all with a gun in her hand (just ask her dog).

Alyssa Yates is wondrously in orbit as the Charles Manson groupie, Squeaky Fromme. There's a joyousness in her desire to kill, and the scene where she shares a joint with Ms. Harrison-Quillin's Moore is a highlight. Best of all is her deut with O'Brien's Hinckley, "Unworthy of Your Love," which is one of Sondheim's loveliest duets (until you realize who each of them is singing to).

Marcus Blake is outstanding as Charles J. Guiteau, President Garfield's assassin (he even resembles the actual Guiteau). He's so charismatic and his walk to the gallows, singing "I am going to the Lordy," ends Act 1 on a harrowing note. But Mr. Blake is such a master performer that we enjoy watching him, and like him, even though he does a very despicable thing.

Rick Faurote as The Proprietor, kind of like a barker in a carnival of the damned, has such a rich, deep singing voice, wall-shaking, that he starts the show of with a bang (literally) with the Sondheim classic, "Everybody's Got the Right."

"Gun Song," sung by Mr. Brown, Mr. Lloyd, Mr. Blake and Ms. Harrison-Quillin, is like a demented barbershop quartet from hell; they sounded macabrely marvelous.

The ensemble adds incredible harmonies and get their chances to shine in specific moments onstage. Bailey DeVoe is a scene-stealing Emma Goldman. Dylan Fidler, Caitlein Jayne Jammo, Chase Tomberlin, Kari Ann Stamatopolos, and Madison DeBrino have voices that blend well and really get to showcase themselves in the heartbreaking where-were-you-when-you-heard-the-news number, "Something Just Broke." Young Ian Fan is a major talent and a drop of innocence in this vat of darkness and despair. And my vote for best in the ensemble goes to...Grant Sparr, who sparks the stage with life whenever he appears.

The set is quite exquisite, with a backdrop like a Robert Rauschenberg painting splashed red, white and blue. (When a President is shot, a spotlight shines on the headline located somewhere on that busy drop.)

Music director Mitchell Samuelson gets the most from the cast and the live band. This band, playing behind the backdrop, sounds tight, with their work driving the show; they would certainly make the late great Mr. Sondheim proud. In some moments the music got a bit too loud, but that settled down as the show went on. Conducting the band and on keyboards is Mitchell Samuelson (also on keyboards: Megan Zeitler); percussion: Nicolas Remy; Horns: John Baker; Bass: Alex Pasut; and reeds: Julia Ford. Pre-show music, including a galvanizing "Helter Skelter" (the original Beatles version, nicely cranked loud) and, its flip side, "What the World Needs Now," is quite appropriate and well thought out.

There is a pre-show warning of gun shots, language, and even onstage drug use. (When the drug use caution was mentioned in the opening announcement, someone in the audience actually clapped; it would have been even better if it had been Squeaky Fromme.)

I worried that guns are so prolific in this production that the audience becomes desensitized, like in our country when we see them. But, near the end, when the assassins pointed their guns directly at the audience, a man in the first row uncomfortably squirmed and looked away. I was glad to see this; it proves the power of the gun and the power of this show. When done right, as here, this show should make you squirm uncomfortably. This is not Song of Norway or Frozen (which proves the Straz runs the gamut of productions housed in their facility-the darkness of ASSASSINS in the Shimberg near the Morsani Hall where Frozen is currently playing; now, that is double feature to contend with).

Someone in the back of the house kept pushing the applause after each song. This is not appropriate with a show like ASSASSINS. It's hard to joyously clap after a person is singing about gunning down the president, no matter how beautifully portrayed. It's like Cabaret that way; sometimes a shared audience silence is far more powerful than their forced applause. This is a show that will have you shudder, deeply think and feel, and you are sometimes too emotional to applaud feverishly. It's not the Brady Bunch Family Night Frolics; it's a show called ASSASSINS about assassins and, brilliant as it is, it's not a skip-down-the-aisle-after-it's-done kind of show.

Much of the hosannas for this fine production must go to director Jessica Berger Vitalo. She does not compromise the strength, the horrors, the necessity for a show like this. She lays it all out there and gets the most from her soul-stirring cast.

After the show, I started mourning the loss of Stephen Sondheim once again. Last November when he passed away was a dark day for musical theatre and for me, an avowed fan, personally. But then I realized, ASSASSINS may be the show that he will be the most remembered for many moons from now. It is so pertinent even to today...and sadly for tomorrow. There is a line drawn from the division of the 1860's, which led to Civil War and a President's killing, to the January 6th siege of the capitol last year. This is artistic immortality at its highest; this work, written over thirty years ago, is still alive.

Mr. Sondheim may be gone, but his shows--and this one, this amazingly scary show-will never leave us. He has created something more than disturbing or thought-provoking. This is one show that I can describe as dangerous. And that's a high compliment coming from me. Art isn't easy, and ASSASSINS is tough stuff (and yes, it's mighty entertaining as well). But you owe it to yourself to see Mad's production at the Shimberg Theatre in the Straz Center (it closes April 16th)-its understanding of what America means to the people waiting at the back of the line is so hauntingly accurate. It stands as one of the signature pieces of the greatest musical theatre artist of the past half century.

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