"Assassins"
Boston.com
June 2, 2004
By Ed Siegel

Meanwhile, the great composer of the second half of the 20th century finally gets to see his extraordinary reflection on presidential assassins land on Broadway. The Sondheim-John Weidman musical opened off-Broadway in 1990, but less-than-stellar reviews and the Gulf War limited its run. Then the Roundabout Theatre company postponed this production after the Sept. 11 attack. And what a production it is. It's filled with fine performances, and director Joe Mantello has invested the carnival setting where the assassins meet with an atmosphere that simultaneously underscores the satiric and the satanic.

These are all characters shut out of the American dream. They are frustrated in love, in work, and in politics. Killing a president is their chance to go for the gold -- to win Jodie Foster's attention or Charlie Manson's admiration, to change history, to gather a measure of immortality. Their logic is frightening, not least because their reasoning often makes a certain amount of sense.

First among equals here is the amazing Denis O'Hare, who won a Tony last year for "Take Me Out" and is nominated again this year. I always thought Charles Guiteau was one of the weakest parts of "Assassins," but O'Hare practically makes James Garfield's assassin the costar (along with Michael Cerveris's John Wilkes Booth), and his "Ballad" ("I Am Going to the Lordy"), which always seemed rather dull, becomes a showstopper.

It may be that many of these performances are actually too good -- so funny that they give credence to those who think the show merely glib (particularly because this production utilizes cabaret seating at Studio 54, with people eating and drinking at their tables). Add some of the jauntiest music Sondheim has ever written, and it's hard not to find the whole thing perversely entertaining.

There is nothing glib about it, though, particularly when you consider the show's ending -- John F. Kennedy's assassination and the reprise of "Everybody's Got the Right," in which all the killers sing about their right to the American dream. If, by the end of the show, a chill doesn't go up your spine, you stopped paying attention.

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