THEATRE
REVIEW:
“ASSASSINS”
at
KPBS AIRDATE:
Anyone who knows anything about music or theater
has a strong opinion of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim. The Tony, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winner
has been hailed as the most important, creative, innovative composer-lyricist
of his generation -- and damned as the most dark, cerebral and inaccessible
musical theater artist of his or any day.
One thing everyone can agree on: he certainly has chutzpah: Who else would write an operatic, Grand Guignol Broadway musical about a cannibalistic barber,
"Sweeney Todd"? Well, now
Sondheim has done himself one better -- or worse, depending on the strength of
your stomach. Two years ago, the master
of the macabre penned music and lyrics for the definitive showpiece on
presidential assassins. It offended
nearly everyone in
Now "Assassins" is here for a West
coast premiere at SDSU. That's a coup
for the Drama Department, and a stretch for the
This play didn't work off-Broadway because it
just doesn't work. It manages to be
both nationalistically offensive and incredibly puerile. The little vignettes, featuring seven men
and two women who have attempted to kill presidents -- in several cases,
without success -- are repetitive and even silly. John Weidman's book shoots for humor, but it's of the basest
kind. And the music isn't memorable;
more Sondheim atonal tunes.
We really don't learn much about these fanatics,
especially the ones we didn't know that much about to begin with; we can barely
distinguish McKinley's Polish assassin from FDR's Italian
assassin-wannabe. Gerald Ford's
wish-killers -- 'Squeaky' Fromme and Sara Jane Moore -- are portrayed as
squealing idiots.
By and large, it's not the production. Director Paula Kalustian and her competent
cast of 17 do their best. Not all the
singing voices are strong. But Todd
Dubail as Booth and Sean Bernardi as a jingoistic Balladeer stand out
vocally. Josh Escajeda is engaging as
Samuel Byck, a sicko who had it in for Nixon, but the role is ridiculously
written.
The weaving of time periods and the meeting of
warped minds is certainly not without appeal.
The underbelly of the American Dream, the distorted reality that fuels
frenzied acts in the name of a cause or the quest for attention can make for
stirring conversation and contemplation.
But it doesn't necessarily create exciting theater or, less likely, a
winning musical.
"Everybody's Got the Right," as the
opening and closing song goes. It's a
free country. And that allows for
assassins as well as misguided theatrical ventures. But some compassionate soul should pull the trigger on this one.
I'm Pat Launer, for KPBS radio.
©1992 Patté Productions Inc.