The Center Stage production of Stephen Sondheim’s dark and subversive musical Assassins, now playing at Catholic University, is a valiant attempt but just misses the mark. A Sondheim work is often challenging to produce with even the most professional equity theatre troupes and Assassins is one of the most challenging shows in Sondheim’s canon. A show such as Assassins demands a unified stylistic approach, but there is no seeming overall directorial approach on display here by Director Paul Scanlan. Usually clocking in at ninety minutes, this show ran for two hours and the energy often flagged as one scene after another listlessly dragged on.
Performers here often tried their best in these circumstances. Vinny Kempski (John Wilkes Booth) and Christian Montgomery (Samuel Byck) gave very earnest and heartfelt performances but did not quite capture the torment and belligerence of their characters. Joe Binck was in command of the role of The Balladeer but never quite captured the isolation of the character of Lee Harvey Oswald.
Standouts in the cast were Brendan McMahon (Leon Czolgosz), Luke Garrison (Guiseppe Zangara), Emily Lentz (Sara Jane Moore) and – especially – Katie Furtado (Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme). The group of misfits in this piece should be portrayed as trapped in their own private hells, but this is never successfully conveyed.
Choreography by Lance Hayes was not very fluid but at least full use of the stage was utilized. Set Design by Ryan George was striking and creative with the two -piece band set nicely on the high point of one of the ends of the playing area. Music Director KC Beauregard worked hard to get a full sound from the band but more accompaniment is really needed to give service to Sondheim’s score. Standout musical numbers were “How I Saved Roosevelt” and “Unworthy of Your Love.” Occasionally, important lyrics from the score were unintelligible.
In today’s political climate the unveiling at the end of a huge visual of President Obama and Candidate Romney was particularly tasteless and offensive – it is hard to believe that the Sondheim would have approved this since Sondheim is a known stickler for details and accuracy.
The whole point of Assassins is to portray the assassins and would-be-assassins of historical record – thus we have John Wilkes Booth portrayed and a picture of Abraham Lincoln on the wall, John Hinckley and a picture of Ronald Reagan on the wall, and so forth. To place a picture of Obama and Romney on the wall is not accurate and also incendiary in the worst possible way.
The Director’s note in the program is faulty in logic as well, as the Director speaks of the assassins and would-be-assassins: “Yes, they went to extremes. Yes, their actions were terrible. They, however, made a statement, while we have the audacity to sit at our computers posting out-of-context sound bites from one candidate to the next on Twitter and Facebook, never truly considering that the same face might be putting on different masks.”
If the enthusiasm of these committed, young actors would have been corralled into a more cohesive production and vision this Assassins would have been a winner but, as is, it is rewarding for only the most devoted and patient Sondheim fan.