Assassins

Synopsis

Award winning musical. Assassins is a twisted celebration of America, "a land where any boy can grow up to kill a president". This show explores the motives of nine individuals who attempt to assassinate American presidents. Through Sondheim's witty lyrics and emotive score, it exposes a sinister underside to the American Dream. Compelling, innovative and yet disturbingly funny, this is one of the most controversial musicals ever written.

Our Review:

15 July 2010

“Everybody’s got the right to their dreams” is how we are introduced to nine assassins - or would-be assassins - of American presidents, from Abe Lincoln all the way up to Ronald Reagan.

This seems a somewhat clumsy sentiment in the hands of such a master of the musical theatre as Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the music and lyrics of this 1990 show (book by John Weidman); but this is a more than usually challenging subject, even for him.

The main problem is that by choosing as your characters nine people from different periods in history, only two of whom appear to have actually known each other, you are setting yourself a huge challenge in making them interact in any meaningful sense. That Sondheim succeeds as well as he does is a sign of his particular genius, but it makes for a show that strains somewhat desperately for a narrative drive.

It also makes for a show that is a little hard on its audience, with an interval-fr...

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Latest User Review

geoff - 7 December 2010:

Best Sondheim of the year...

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