Stephen Sondheim's Assassins to be revived at the Pleasance Theatre

A new production of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins will run at Islington's Pleasance Theatre in March.

Sondheim’s Assassins won five Tony Awards when it opened on Broadway in 2004, after premiering Off-Broadway in 1990. The musical is based on an idea by Charles Gilbert Jr, with original orchestration by Michael Starobin and libretto by John Weidman.

The musical features classic songs including "Everybody's Got The Right" and "The Ballad of Booth" and chronicles the lives and attitudes of a number of assassins who have tried to murder US presidents throughout history, and what their actions truly meant.

The new production will be directed by Louise Bakker, who comments: "Although it was last presented in London only a few years ago, a new political backdrop allows audiences to judge the assassins’ motives in a new light…this new production is all the more pertinent because of the context in which it’s being presented. Today, the show is also about gun crime, about extremists and social alienation and the clash of all of these concepts." Bakker also teased that the production will directly tie into the present presidential circumstances, though didn't want to give any surprises away.

Casting for the production is to be announced, with Jordan Clarke serving as musical director.

Sondheim's other credits Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Follies and Sunday in the Park with George. A new production of Company with Rosalie Craig in the newly gender switched role of Bobbi, will open at the Gielgud Theatre in the West End in September.

Assassins runs at Pleasance Theatre from 20 March to 8 April.