Reader Reviews
Assassins (Union Theatre, Inner London)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | Best Sondheim of the year - geoff | 07 Dec 10 |
| ...and no transfer! what are producers doing with their time, I simply adored it and feel sure it could have done a month at the say Trafalgar Studios, especially in Sondheim's birthday prom year. Best Sondheim I have seen this year by far, I saved judgement until I had seen 'Woods' and 'Passion'. this was vastly superior in its direction and casting. Beggars Belief. - Sondheim nut | 27 Sep 10 |
| - | Brilliant. A stunning production that had me on the edge of my edge of my seat and laughing out with laughter (although not at the same time!)Some fabulous perfamances also and great playing from the 6 piece band - Reich | 16 Jul 10 |
| Absolutely brilliant: very disturbing, very funny and very inventive. The performances are uniformly terrific, and I doubt this score has ever been sung better. I found this far more impressive than the UK Premiere which reopened the Donmar. A dark treat! - ajh | 16 Jul 10 |
| A theatre space under the railway arches proved to be a cool place to spend a couple of hours on a sweltering Saturday afternoon and with a cracking Sondheim production thrilling as well as cool. I’d forgotten this was coming up at the lovely Union Theatre when I booked to see the same show at the Royal Academy of Music less than two weeks ago, so I decided to give it a miss. Then those West End Whingers positively raved so I just had to go! VERY GOOD DECISION. Sondheim links nine assassinations / attempted assassinations and explores their motivation in a tragi-comic show which had its UK premiere at the Donmar Warehouse in 1992 and I think I’ve seen every London production since. It’s difficult to get the right tone but his one is absolutely spot on. You often feel you’re peering into these people’s souls and feeling their pain. The close proximity of such a small venue (and in my case the front row) helps, but it’s the brilliant acting and singing which really makes this stand out. Director Michael Strassen has done a remarkable job putting together a cast this good. Glyn Kerslake has huge presence as John Wilkes Booth. Nick Holder’s two monologues as Samuel Byck are riveting. John Barr’s Guiteau has an extraordinary manic quality. Joe Alessi is a passionate Zangara, Adam Jarrell a vulnerable Czolgosz and Paul Callen a nerdy Hinckley who really spooks you when he demonstrates his knowledge of Lee Harvey Oswald. I’ve never seen Sarah Jane Moore played as well as Leigh McDonald does here and the crucial chemistry between her and Alison Lardner’s Fromme was perfect. Nolan Frederick’s lovely bass-barritone voice and stage presence elevates The Balladeer from a narrator to centre stage. It’s a terrific idea to have the chorus as a modern-day presidential guard – men(and women)-in-black with shades and earpieces - that start their duties as you’re waiting to enter. The small band play the score beautifully with a restraint which allows the actors to make the most of the songs and in particular the insightful lyrics. Michael Strassen’s ‘Company’ at the same venue achieved the same as this does – allowing the characters, story and music to shine through, but on this occasion digging into the psychology of these people in a way I’ve never seen before. An absolute triumph which may well turn out to be the highlight of Mr Sondheim’s 80th. - Gareth James | 11 Jul 10 |
| U.S. Presidents get a raw deal from musicals … in Kaufman and Hart's 1937 I'd Rather Be Right George M. Cohan starred as Franklin Roosevelt who despite his polio paralysis sings and dances - at least in Annie he remains confined to his wheelchair whilst the ginger moppet bawls a succession of shaky key-changes into his ear. Contemporary musical satires like Michael Friedman’s 2009 Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, or Obama: The Musical have yet to build on early promise but at least in those none of the contenders gets shot at, as do the nine (count ‘em) potential victims in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins currently in a new production by Michael Strassen at the Union Theatre, Southwark. +++ Assassins is a difficult musical to pigeon-hole. Despite comparing its vengeful plot with Sweeney Todd, it doesn’t fall in to Sondheim’s tuneful-and-waspishly-witty category alongside Follies, Company and Into The Woods. Nor is it in the obscure-but-intriguing box with Pacific Overtures, Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park. Some claim that as a series of sketches about each of the assassinations, it’s more like a revue than a musical – certainly it defeats Sondheim’s ability to make comic capital out of human relationships since the nine would-be murderers in this show scarcely have one between them and losers and loners don’t make for snappy lyrics. It’s the lack of connectivity between the characters that limits the show, and leaves you feeling cheated with only 8 songs in 90 minutes (although this version runs 110 which indicates a need for tightening and cutting). +++ read the rest of this review by googling the blog called 'A Kick In The Stalls' - JohnnyFox | 03 Jul 10 |
