Assassins

Whatsonstage ★★★★☆

Average Reader Review ★★★★★

As an outfit 2nd Company exist to promote the work of Stephen Sondheim and new writers from his school. It could be argued that the much-celebrated octogenarian composer-lyricist doesn't need the help - but it's obvious why musical theatre performers are drawn to his canon.

The company have previously tackled Follies, Company and Just Another Love Story, and Ray Rackham now revives Assassins, Sondheim's 1990 one-act examination of nine attempts on the lives of US Presidents.

Rackman notes that the characters in Assassins have confused the right to pursue happiness with the right to obtaining it, whatever the cost. I'd give him this observation, with the production presenting a rumination on the power of a strongly held ideal, combined with the fixating power of a firearm.

David Esler’s scenic design is an understated purgatory, alas the piece's musical staging walks a tightrope line, mixing subtle touches with twee choreography.

Navigation is provided throughout by the appealing vocal tones of Balladeer Johnjo Flynn, later Lee Harvey Oswald, who is excellent amongst a cast of strong vocals. Lapses in accent occasionally detract from John Weidman’s book, but the scenes and monologues are played out with conviction none the less.

Brandon Force and Marcia Brown deserve to be singled out for specific praise as gospel-singing Charles Guiteau, "Going to the Lordy", and Manson Family member Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme respectively.

Musical director Joe Bunker and his five-strong band do a good job of articulating Sondheim's score, providing firm footing for a vital, simple production.

— Andrew Girvan - Whatsonstage.com

Stagewon Review

A musical based on the attempts, successful or otherwise, to kill eight American presidents is an unlikely pitch. It’s just over twenty years since Assassins’ original Broadway and London productions in the early ‘90s, and it’s as fresh, witty, surreal and tragic in equal measure as it ever was. Based on an idea by playwright Charles Gilbert Jr, its early reception was mixed: Frank Rich wrote in the New York Times that the piece ‘will have to fire with sharper aim and fewer blanks if it is to shoot to kill.’ The political overtones are unmistakable.

A carnival game of ‘Shoot the President’ is a clever framing device for its episodic revue-style. The Proprietor hands out guns to the assassins with assurances of fame and fortune while vestiges of a tarnished American dream-cum-nightmare adorn the back in two unfurled, faded USA flags. Through its eleven songs and scenes, played without an interval, Assassins examines an America which nurtured the likes of ‘pioneer’ John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated Abe Lincoln in 1865, and John Hinkley Jr, who made an attempt on Ronald Regan’s life in 1981.

Its perspective is far-ranging; steel-worker Leon Czolgosz shoots President William McKinley in 1901 as an expression against working conditions; a direct political act. The most outlandish are Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme and Sara Jane Moore as gun-toting-tyros who bungle their separate attempts to assassinate Gerald Ford in 1975. This is more problematic. Sara Jane has brought her son (there's no decent childcare) and her dog, which she accidentally shoots. Fromme, meanwhile, dreams of TV exposure so that her lover, Charles Manson, ‘can save the world.’ As she takes aim, her gun jams.

There’s a fine line between caricature – how kooky do you like your kooky – and reality. In this case, it is even harder to pull off against a backdrop of ‘real’ characters from different historical periods who already occupy society’s liminal shades, particularly alongside Sondheim’s fiendishly difficult yet masterly score. Assassins takes no prisoners and some performers cope better than others. There’s no doubting the energised performance of "I’m going to the Lordy" by Brandon Force and ensemble, with its gospel-evangelism. It brought the jive alive as Charles Guiteau cake-walks to the scaffold after shooting the twentieth President, James Garfield, in 1881; a perfect balance of the grotesque mixed with artistry, reminiscent of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.

Similarly, the muted recreation of the Texas Schoolbook depository, with silhouetted windows, where Lee Harvey Oswald aims a gun at JFK’s motorcade is a moment of real drama. Paul Burnham as The Proprietor and Johnjo Flynn as The Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald are in a league of their own. Likewise, the performance of Alexander Forsyth as Leon Czolgosz captures the character’s intensity….’there’s another national anthem, folks, for those who never win…We’re the other national anthem, folks, the ones who can’t get in'.

Sondheim’s score is inventive and rich. He uses the range of Americana to chart its cultural history from the folk ballad, Sousa-like marches, barbershop and rag to the pop love song. There’s even self-referential irony as the damaged Sam Byck (would-be assassin of Richard Nixon in 1974) in a Santa Claus costume communes with ‘Lenny’ - Leonard Bernstein - who he harangues with snatches from West Side Story; the lyricist? One Stephen Sondheim…

The political resonance in Assassins is keenly felt: the impact of JFK’s death - where were you when Kennedy was shot – prompted two songs "November 22, 1963" and "Something Just Broke". While Byck’s plan to highjack a 747 and slam it into the White House takes on a sinister reality after the events of 9/11. America’s political climate will guarantee Assassins’ longevity. Why have there been so many attempts on the life of its Commander in Chief? This is a question that lies outside artistic content. At the end the evening the assassins point their guns at the audience: to implicate? to blame? to punish? Or to unite?

— Pauline Flannery - Stagewon

The Public Reviews ★★★★☆

It is always fascinating to hear people claim to remember exactly what they were doing and where they were when they heard the news that President Kennedy had been shot and this momentous event in history has been analysed and discussed ever since. Kennedy’s death made his alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald…a star! Did he unwillingly set a precedent that killing your president is a surefire way to get yourself noticed… forever? If you are feeling invisible, unimportant and misunderstood as a person, why not make yourself a part of history?

Sondheim’s Assassins explores the dark reasons why anybody would take or attempt to take a president’s life and the stories behind these famous killers. Since opening off-Broadway in 1990, this is just the fifth professional production to be mounted in London, here by director Ray Rackham’s 2nd Company Productions at the Pleasance Theatre Islington, near Caledonian Road.

16 cast members lead us through this dark evening’s entertainment, and entertaining it certainly is. Set in a strange kind of Vaudeville limbo, we really get a sense of comedy and razzle-dazzle to the piece, a stark contrast to the characters’ feelings of gloom and despair. Effective costumes by Gemma Veitch and the breadth of Sondheim’s music give a great sense of time and space as the would-be assassins communicate and engage with each other across the decades.

JohnJo Flynn doubles up playing The Balladeer, a narrator who provides the stories of the assassins and Lee Harvey Oswald. Paul Burnham plays The Proprietor, who provides the characters with their weapons at the beginning of the show. Both these actors shine vocally with superb singing. Brandon Force really brings Charles Guiteau, the assassin of President James Garfield, to life with loads of energy and a huge injection of comedy into his performance. And Tim McArthur also gives a stand-out performance as Samuel Byck, impressing with some tremendous acting.

The band led by Joe Bunker sounds great, though a little loud at times, drowning out some of the weaker vocalists on the stage. But with effective choreography from Chris Whittaker combined with Ray Rackham’s careful direction and, of course, the genius that is Sondheim’s music, this is a production that is thought provoking, humorous, touching, disturbing and not to be missed.

— Joanna Forest - Public Reviews

One Stop Arts ★★★☆☆ 

Stephen Sondheim's Assassins courts controversy by giving American presidential assassins a voice, and this production by 2nd Company ably captures the flavour of this highly original and strange musical, although it fails to capitalise on the story or deliver completely convincingly. Nonetheless, this is an excellent revival, and a must for Sondheim fans.

Assassins tells the stories of the various men and women who have attempted, successfully or unsuccessfully, to kill an American president. Languishing forever in some sort of strange limbo, where carnival barkers hand out guns and the embodiment of the American Dream reprimands them for their actions, the stories of their assassinations are replayed until they all gang up to convince Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate JFK, thus to immortalise their stories forever.

It's really quite odd – the plot seems almost tangential, a loose concept that links together a number of rather clever songs that display Sondheim's trademark wit and musical stylings, rather than a cogent, cohesive story. The strange carnival-of-lost-assassins setting is useful over inspired, and the ending does seem to take a very long time and make little sense in plot terms. Then again, the music is excellent, so it's almost an irrelevance, but I was excited to see how this would all tie together – sadly, it really didn't for me, and I can't be sure whether that's down to the production or the script.

It's always impressive to see a Broadway musical done well in a smaller space, and 2nd Company manage most of the intricacies well – a six-person band often outdoes the singers in terms of volume, but some effort has been made to add stage microphones; volume is rarely perfect, but it's not a huge problem. The set is very pretty and relatively static, which is a bit of a shame, but a number of small changes throughout do keep the energy flowing – there's a particularly nice moment when a character is replaced by a puppet, which ups the (very black) comedy of the moment nicely, although the easel on the side (with different posters) is too small and out-of-the-way to really make much of a difference. However, the props and costumes (most notably the historically accurate guns) are really quite excellent.

The biggest issue here, unfortunately, is the actors – it's a very mixed bag in terms of performance and ability. Johnjo Flynn does an excellent job as the Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald, with plenty of moments to shine – all three Ballads require some rapid-fire singing, which he rattles through with aplomb, and he has some lovely character moments towards the end as Oswald. There's also excellent work from Alex Forsyth as Czolgosz and Brandon Force as Guiteau – both sing excellently, and their characterisations of the shy and repressed Czolgosz and the vainglorious Guiteau are nicely pitched. Marcia Brown has a harder time as Lynette Frome, with an accent that often slips, although 'Unworthy of Your Love' is an excellent duet for her and Bo Frazier as Hinckley, who is frighteningly believable as the repressed obsessive – another fantastic job.  However, among the rest of the cast accents frequently slip and voices aren't quite strong enough; it's just as important that the ensemble is good enough to hold up the larger numbers, and they really aren't here, which is a real shame.

As Sondheims go, I can't whole-heartedly recommend the musical – it's not quite interlinked enough to form a real story. However, this production does still make for an entertaining evening, and the songs are largely well sung and choreographed – I just expected a little more.

— Chris Hislop - One Stop Arts

UK Theatre Network

The latest UK production of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins at the Pleasance, offers a dynamic and thought provoking night of musical theatre that is not to be missed.   

The musical set in a vaudeville ‘limbo’, evokes the showmanship of the American legal system, and the media circus that is often associated with controversial cases.  Thematically the piece examines the mixed motivations of the men and women throughout history who have tried (successfully or otherwise), to assassinate the various presidents of America. As the would-be assassins communicate with each other across the decades, Sondheim’s award winning music stylistically reflects the different eras of the shooting’s. Starting with the 1865 murder of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, and going right up to the latest assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan in 1981, it suggests that Booth’s legacy is indirectly responsible for the US media event of the last century, the murder of John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald. The book by John Weidman, is one of the most politically insightful ever written for a musical, and offers a rare gift in the musical arena of multi- layered psychological dialogues for its characters.

This is a big show and it is well placed on the main stage of the Pleasance. Produced by 2nd Company Productions, Ray Rackham’s spot-on direction is perfectly complimented by Chris Whittaker’s neat choreography. Martin Dickinson’s interpretation of John Wilkes Booth, is compelling, and Brandon Force’s razzle-dazzle performance of The Ballad Of Guiteau stops the show. There is a wonderful rapport between Bronwyn Baud and Marcia Brown as the ideologically opposed female would be presidential killers, and the ensemble beautifully capture the emotional time capsule associated with the murder of John F. Kennedy with Something Just Broke.

Assassins is an exceptional breed of musical that manages to get the brain thinking as well as the ears buzzing. It is one of Sondheim’s best. and this production gives it the platform it deserves.

— Oliver Valentine - UK Theatre Network

British Theatre Guide

Assassins winds in and out of American history probing the motives of the "inconsequential little man" who from time to time attempts to kill the President (and who from time to time succeeds).

Its non-linear structure appears to play fast and loose with historic fact and its revue feel suggests a trivialising of murderous acts. This can alienate as much as gratify, but it is the actuality behind so much detail and the juxtaposition of the jaunty with the lethal that keeps this twenty-plus year old Sondheim work potentially chilling, even in our much-changed world.

Covering nine presidential assassination attempts the shooting starts with Confederate sympathiser John Wilkes Booth's despatching of Lincoln, lending the act some idea of nobility with a patriotic justification. Chronologically at least, it ends with the failed attempt of insane Southerner John Hinckley to win the love of film star Jodie Foster by finishing off Ronald Reagan, but the dramatic climax comes with all the assassins entreating a reluctant Lee Harvey Oswald to make sense of their individual despair.

Not all the would-be assassins were as American as apple pie and Sondheim's score introduces a mazurka and tarantella alongside the snippets of Sousa marches, hoedowns and barbershop displaying his unparalleled talent for pastiche. The lyrics are Sondheim's too: incisive, witty and fitting to the character to the point even of including Charles Guiteau's (one of the assassins) own words in his farewell song on the gallows.

In this production from 2nd Company, who have previously brought Sondheim's Company and Follies to the Pleasance, this number, "The Ballard of Guiteau", threatens to steal the show. An assured and comic performance from Brandon Force lets rip the teasingly hinted at insanity in the cakewalk that leads him to the hangman's noose.

Tim McArthur has eschewed the wimple of his comedy alter ego Sister Mary and gives a blasting performance as angry and disillusioned Sam Byck who plans to kill Nixon. Uniquely this performance delivers some goose-bumps.

Tim McArthur together with well-sung performances from Paul Burnham playing the Proprietor and Johnjo Flynn as the Balladeer also provide much needed oomph to the generally underpowered singing; the vocals are intermittently submerged by the band, though the ensemble numbers and orchestration occasionally twinkle.

Sondheim says of Assassins that it is the show that comes closest to the expectations he had of it during the creative process, and apart from a tweak to one passage—and admitting immodesty—he declares this show "perfect".

The later addition of "Something Just Broke" before the finale belies such a description for many and even uber-Sondheim aficionado, director Ray Rackham, cannot make the number work for this Assassins veteran. But Rackham's are a safe pair of hands and even if these assassins failed to unsettle me, "well, nobody's perfect".

— Sandra Giorgetti - British Theatre Guide

Classical Source

It is odd how some shows come about. In the case of Assassins, first staged off Broadway in 1990, its genesis goes back to 1979. In the second volume of his collected lyrics (Look, I Made a Hat) Stephen Sondheim reveals that in that year he was serving on the board of the Musical Theater Lab, “an organisation dedicated to finding and presenting new musicals by unknown writers.” It was a short-lived venture that produced only one (unspecified) show. However, among those submitted was a piece called Assassins by one Charles Gilbert Jr. It featured a Vietnam veteran who, disillusioned by the war, agrees to become a Presidential assassin in the setting of a fairground shooting gallery.

At the time Sondheim was only excited by the title of the piece but, ten years later, when he and John Weidman, who had collaborated with Sondheim on Pacific Overtures, were looking for new ideas, Sondheim mentioned Assassins and they were both fired up with the idea. They sought permission from Gilbert to use his idea and the title which he gave on the understanding that he could still present his show whenever he wished. All they took from his show was the name and the shooting gallery setting. Sondheim and Weidman’s first idea was to cover assassins through the ages: “What we envisioned initially was a kaleidoscope revue of assassins from Brutus through Charlotte Corday via Gavrilo Princip [he assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand] to James Earl Ray [killer of Martin Luther King].” But it all became too unwieldy.

The next step was to limit the piece to just American assassins but that also seemed too much of a handful. Then they ran through the assassins of the US Presidents and, as thirteen characters proved too much, they cut some and were finally left with just nine killers or would-be assassins plus their accomplices. The most notorious characters among this group are John Wilkes Booth who killed Abraham Lincoln, and Lee Harvey Oswald, who shot John F. Kennedy. The other stories cover Leon Czolgosz who shot William McKinley, Charles Guiteau (James Garfield), Giuseppe Zangara who attempted to kill Franklin D. Roosevelt, Samuel Byck who planned to hijack a plane to crash-land on the White House and kill Richard Milhous Nixon, Lynette Fromme and Sara Jane More who tried to murder Gerald Ford, and John Hinckley who attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan.

The shape of the show is formed by the setting in the shooting gallery where the Proprietor hands out guns, exhorting his customers to “hit the Prez and win a prize.” The protagonists are introduced in the first song, ‘Everybody’s got the right…’ to be what? The answers are simple: the right to be happy, to have some sunshine, to be different, but mostly to have their dreams. Killing a President is one way of becoming (in)famous and not just for Andy Warhol’s fifteen minutes. The rest of the show is compered by the Balladeer as we progress through the various stories. For the final scene all the infamous figures from US Presidential history gather together when Lee Harvey Oswald arrives at the Book Depository in Dallas to commit suicide. Instead they urge him not to kill himself but to shoot the President instead. He is the ultimate assassin, the one that everyone remembers now whether they were alive at the time or not. It is, relatively speaking, contemporary history within living memory, an event that shocked the whole world and changed America forever in terms of its vulnerability.

Ray Rackham’s production really gets to the heart and soul of the American nightmare. In a mixture of high drama and ironic comedy the 2nd Company makes the show a genuinely moving experience. It is a company show and there are no weak points. Martin Dickinson is outstanding as Booth, the only one of the assassins to have real cause to kill, because he had a genuine grievance in trying to free thousands of Confederate prisoners of war. Brandon Force as Guiteau is a real fruit cake who wanted to be Ambassador to France but shot Garfield instead. Tim McArthur as Samuel Byck (in Santa Claus outfit) evokes a real madman at large as he tried to bomb the White House but his plane never took off and he killed a guard and a co-pilot instead. As the Balladeer, Johnjo Flynn is a neutral character but when he returns as Lee Harvey Oswald he is a man possessed: a fine double-act combining show-biz pizzazz and undiluted evil.

Sondheim’s music is a pastiche of different American styles of music from Country & Western to ballads, from anthems to jaunty swingalong rhythms. The revised orchestrations by David Keefe include acoustic and electric bass, banjo and guitar, flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, trumpet, drums and percussion, all of which give the score a truly American feel and appeal. Joe Bunker’s band plays to strength presenting a good, strong and positive sound.

Seeing Assassins again demonstrates how relevant the show and its message are. It reminds us that, as Sara Jane Moore, would-be assassin of Gerald Ford, said: “There comes a point when the only way you can make a statement is to pick up a gun.”

— Michael Darvell - Classic Source

Whatsonthefringe ★★★★☆ 

Readers Reviews ★★★★☆

“Free country, means a right to expect, that you’ll have an effect”. The lyrics from the opening song Everybody’s got the right of Steven Sondheim’s musical Assassins are still as topical as when first performed twenty years ago. How far would you go for happiness? In the land of opportunities, are those opportunities for everyone?

Through nine attempts to take the life of the USA’s presidents through history, 2nd Company’s production of the Assassins looks for answers to these questions by focusing on the personal journey of each of the assassins, including John Wilkes Booth, Sara Jane Moore and Lee Harwey Oswald, in a set of a bizarre after-life cabaret.

Pleasance London’s Main House offers a perfect frame for Sondheim’s controversial vaudeville show. David Esler’s set design is edgy and interesting but timeless enough to leave space for audience’s imagination. After a slightly halting opening number, the audience is introduced to the characters one by one through a song.

Assassins shares the same musical language with Sondheim’s Into the Woods where the story is created around a bunch of well-known fairytale characters brought together by a new story. In Assassins the characters are based on real people with real passions and desires. The thing that connects them is the attempt the assassin the president and, above all, the strong belief that that’s the best, maybe only way to make a difference.

Assassins is a celebration of individual performances. Brandon Force’s amazing comical timing as president Garfield’s assassin Charles Guiteau reaches its peak in The Ballad of Guiteau, after which it takes a while for the audience to recover from a serious laughing fit. Tim McArthur manages to put the comedy aside and delivers Sam Byck’s monologue with great dedication. Byck’s line “There ain’t no Santa Claus!” sums up the dark irony of the American dream: for most it’s just a sweet dream, not reality. The excellent ensemble backs up the main characters with such an enthusiasm it’s filling the whole space with enjoyment. Choreography was a bit stiff and over-rehearsed  throughout which, hopefully, when the run goes on will get more fluid and relaxed.

The director, Ray Rackham, is an experienced Sondheim-interpreter who knows how to bring the strong score together with a challenging book in order to make them both shine in way that the audience gets the best of both. By showing  these historical characters through more personal lens, Rackham manages to provoke sympathy and make the audience ask the most important question “why” not just in terms of the murder motives but  why were these people feeling this pain so big they think only the president’s death would make up to it?

Assassins is a perfect marriage of strong themes, musical excellence and dark humour. It offers enough twist, surprises and strong narratives even for non-musical lovers to find it engaging.  Through laughter and tears it tells a story so detailed yet so timeless it can be adapted to anytime anywhere. Questions like is it better to be hated with passion than not to be known at all? are left floating in the air after the last scene leaving audience touched. We all have our pride and Assassins is a great, relatable story about those who have lost theirs.

— Jonna Nummela - Whatsonthefringe

FrontRowDress

Assassins, dating from 1990, is usually regarded as one of Stephen Sondheim’s “difficult” musicals. With a non-linear book by John Weidman and score and lyrics by Sondheim, this revue style one act show attempts to illustrate common ground and suggest a causal link between a whole host of actual and would-be murderers of US presidents. The only production of this we had previously seen was by the final year students from the Actor/Musician course at Rose Bruford College last year at the Unicorn theatre, which was great, but we were exceptionally excited about our first professional production at North London’s Pleasance theatre, on Mr Sondheim’s 82nd birthday no less.

Despite its name, the Pleasance is situated in a spectacularly unpleasant urban hinterland between Camden and Islington, but it is thankfully adjacent to Shillibeers bar and restaurant, where we took advantage of the food and drink menu before wending our way up the concrete stairs and metal gantry to the theatre in time for a vodka and tonic ahead of curtain up.

Opening in a fairground shooting gallery, the assassins appear and are given their weapons by the proprietor, a menacing Paul Burnham. A narrator arrives in the form of the Balladeer, a buff Johnjo Flynn who, inexplicably, has a sweater jauntily tied around his neck in the manner of a mid-80’s A-list gay on a summer evening in the Hamptons. Anyway I digress, Johnjo Flynn has a strong voice, easy charm and takes us through the individual stories, beginning with Martin Dickinson’s John Wilkes Booth, a failed actor who kills Abraham Lincoln. Dickinson is a towering presence throughout the production, his barely suppressed rage against the world allowing us to glimpse the motivation of a murderer. However, he does have possibly the worst false moustache I have ever seen, think early Groucho Marx, and it is distinctly distracting.

Brandon Force as Charles Guiteau, the assassin of James Garfield, is absolutely incredible. So much so that the only time the production truly soars is when he is centre stage and you wish everyone else would up their game to join him. His big number, a fabulous tableau when Guiteau is heading for the gallows, is both funny and heartbreaking and even when he has the odd line, his portrayal of a needy nerdy pitiable fantasist effortlessly outshines the rest of the cast.

One by one we hear pathetic defences of atrocious deeds, all claiming that their dismal lives would be turned around if they only killed a president. This climaxes with the assassination of John F Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald, also played by Johnjo Flynn sans sweater. Flynn finally comes into his own as Oswald, believably touching as a broken man with a troubled home life, and I found myself having genuine sympathy for the character. Oswald, the reluctant pin-up boy of all the others, is persuaded by Martin Dickinson’s malevolent Booth that this one supremely violent deed will secure not only his own place in the record books, but that of all the others, who gather around egging him on. The rest, as they say, is history.

This is a strong, workmanlike production of a demanding show, with a couple of standout performances, especially that of Brandon Force. This was only the second night, but it had been designated “press night”, so no excuses there. I do imagine it will get better as the run progresses and you can never have too much Sondheim, so I am making a return visit in a couple of weeks. The band sounded great and it was a real joy to hear songs like Another National Anthem and Everybody’s Got The Right belted out by a professional cast, they just need some of Brandon Force’s magic to rub off on them and it could be stupendous.

— Front Row Dress

‘Sondheim’s masterpiece of musical theatre’ 

★★★★★

What is so extraordinary about this play which is about nine murderers - is the feeling of exhilaration it brings at the ending. 

Of course it is about murder - although as explained in the piece - one isn't a murderer if one kills a president - you are an assassin and your reputation will live for ever more as someone who changed the shape of the world.

It is a perfect marriage between the totally appropriate music and lyrics by Sondheim, carefully constructed to match the period and atmosphere of each episode and the book by John Weidman, who tries to see the killings from the point of view of the killers. It concentrates on the personalities and motivations of the men and women wielding the gun - what was it that turned them into assassins. 

Abraham Lincoln on a visit to the theatre was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth an actor. This led rise to the much repeated joke 'Apart from that Mrs Lincoln how did you enjoy the play?' now a standard question in any satirical story about assassinations.

'Why did you do it Johnny? The Ballad of Booth is the song telling us Booth is fighting for Southern rights, he says 'What I did was kill the man who killed my country. Now the Southland will mend'. Others take a more cynical view and say he is seeking publicity because of the bad notices he had received.

There are 10 musical items in this show and there are no particular highlights - every number is a highlight. Although perhaps Johnjo Flynn needs a mention as he plays the Balladeer - who tells the stories - and then at the end is also Lee Harvey Oswald.

Bronwen Baud carries a lot of the comedy as Sara Jane Moore the ditsy near- murderer of Gerald Ford - she is part of the wonderful gun song quartet 'Just crook your little finger to change the world' with Alexander Forsyth's Czolgosz joined by Martin Dickinson as Booth, Moore and Brandon Force as Guiteau.. And Marcia Brown as Lynette Fromme talks about her passion for Charles Manson (at least Charlie Manson is the son of God) along with Hinckley (Bo Frazier) who assassinates to gain the attention of Jodie Foster. Tim McArthur is Sam Byck a weird Father Christmas figure as he sings of his intentions to kill Dirty Dicky Nixon along with his passion for the works of Leonard Bernstein.

This is a full scale production at the lovely main house of the Pleasance Theatre which has recently become the home of Sondheim under the governor ship of Ray Rackham who directs the excellent company.

— Aline Waites - Remotegoat

★★★★★

Assassins isn’t an easy show to get right. In fact, it’s an easy show to get wrong. For starters, it doesn’t really make that much sense. The plot follows a group of assassins set years apart that befriend one and other, while singing and dancing about their situations and why their actions were justified. Strange, right?

However, in this production of one of Sondheim’s lesser-known musicals, pretty much everything goes right.

The show is almost entirely character driven, so the casting really is key. From the very first moment the eclectic group of assassins step forward, you’re really struck by what an odd mix they are. This then poses the obvious question – why do these people want to kill their president? This is, of course, answered in their individual tales, which are woven together to tell their stories on a larger scale.

The show is laced with dark humour that’s executed superbly by the nine assassins. Particular standouts are Bronwyn Baud as the deliciously eccentric Sara Jane Moore and Brandon Force in a show-stopping turn as Charles Guiteau. Both provide memorable scenes that tickled the entire audience. With that in mind, however, there isn’t a weak link in the entire cast, but fantastic performances throughout. John Jo Flynn, for example, takes on the roles of the Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald, giving him a chance to show off his gorgeous voice endlessly.

The six part ensemble are put to good use in various roles, including eyewitnesses at the scene of the crimes and town-folk, as well as moving set pieces on and off-stage. They are also given time to shine in their own number, Something Just Broke, which describes the effect the assassinations have on them as members of the general public.

Ray Rackham, who directed and cast the production, is incredibly familiar with Sondheim’s work. He lists several productions of Company and Assassins, Into The Woods and Happily Ever After as just a few of his credits. With plenty of practice his art has been perfected it seems, because this production is pretty much flawless.

Assassins is a funny, interesting and thought provoking piece of theatre that excels within the confines of The Pleasance Theatre.

— Perry Juby - 11 Online

Gay Times

2nd Company Productions take a fantastically well-aimed shot at the Sondheim classic. 
Over twenty years after its first showing as an Off-Broadway Production, Stephen Sondheim’s darkly comic musical Assassins comes to Islington, revived by 2nd Company Productions. The show focuses on various men and women throughout history who have either assassinated or attempted to assassinate an American President. Characters span a century from Abraham Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald who shot J.F.K. Yes, we know that’s officially alleged, but this is a musical. 

Each assassin tells his or her story usually in the form of a musical number, often accompanied by a Balladeer who acts as narrator. The Balladeer is played with tremendous charm by Johnjo Flynn who also does a great flipside to this role when playing Lee Harvey Oswald, a man plagued by demons and failure. The Balladeer is a classically handsome, upbeat, squeaky clean, all-American, somewhat macho-camp, all-singing, all-dancing kind of guy. He first comes onstage to mock assassin number one: John Wilkes Booth - actor, Confederate sympathiser and general racist. Booth earnestly presents his case against Lincoln only to be joined and tormented by the Balladeer who belittles Booth by putting all his actions down to his personal problems and bad reviews. 

Assassins does not judge its characters as good or bad whatever their ideology may be. The assassins say (or more often than not, sing) their piece, each giving their reasons for why they intend to kill the president, but it’s their personalities the production focuses on rather than their political beliefs. Booth is played as charming, charismatic, quite full of himself and a spiritual father to all the other assassins, often visiting his fellow killers to give them encouragement or plant the whole assassination idea in their heads. Charles Guiteau is a complete parody of himself, pompous, effeminate and ridiculously self-obsessed. Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme is a spoilt brat. Leon Czolgosz is a tortured and exploited working class Polish boy besotted with Emma Goldman. Czolgosz is played with total poignancy by Alexander Forsyth as a man almost broken by the shitty conditions under which he lives. He’s our favourite, probably because we identify with him or like to think we do. Forsyth does a wonderful job of filling his eyes with pain to convey Czolgosz’s character and in our humble opinion it’s hot. Guiseppe Zangara’s eyes on the other hand are almost bursting out of his head as he is portrayed as a wide-eyed psychopath by Padraig Beathnach. Each assassin is played brilliantly and somehow given depth, so while they may be boiled down to a single word description here they rarely come across as completely one-dimensional. 

The production is completely compelling, one of those musicals that makeses you feel alive, which is slightly ironic. The musical numbers are absolute classics and performed wonderfully and with total verve by the cast. The Ballad of Guitea is definitely a highlight. During this number Charles Guitea (religious loon who assassinated James Garfield) is led to the gallows full of smug self-importance, resting assured that he is acting directly under the instruction of God, while being backed by an ensemble of Christian worshippers in white robes singing along as he’s being led up to be hung. It looks and sounds amazing. It’s the unlikely combination of upbeat music and singing with such subject matter that makes Assassins so compelling and at times so darkly funny. From the sunny sounding opening number of Everybody’s Got the Right with it’s ‘everybody’s got the right to be happy’ refrain, to the same reprise at the end of the play, when each assassin is stood in a line raising and pointing their weapons at the audience in unison you can’t help but be captivated. Funny, dark, playful, enthralling and with musical numbers to die for (ha ha, sorry), go watch.

— Len Lukowska  - Gay Times