Assassins

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

About a week before I saw the Next Stage production of Assassins, it occurred to me, I might have done them a terrible disservice sabotaging my experience before the first note was played on the Phoenix Theatre stage.

(Left to Right) Tyler Collins, Jenny Hecht, Todd Coulter, Rich Hicks, Brian Hutchinson, Gregg Adams, Jessica Clare, David Kincannon, & Ken Paul in Assassins.

Not long after I heard Next Stage was going to be producing this Stephen Sondheim’s breath-taking musical, I ordered the Broadway CD, playing it a skillion times. The impact stuns.

What if I had set the bar for this local theatre’s second production higher than anyone could climb? What if my expectations were so out of kilter, I would have to fight with myself to be fair?

What if? Actually, the process worked in the opposite direction. The Next Stage production gave legs, grins, grimaces, and heart-wrenching images to the CD. Amazing how things work out.

Assassins: the Stephen Sondheim blockbuster won six out of the seven Tony Awards it was nominated for in 2004.

Assassins: the mind-boggling musical that was scheduled to open on Broadway in 2001, postponed because of September 11. It was finally able to open on Broadway April 22, 2004, running 101 performances.

Next Stage’s brilliant choreographer, Lindsey Hanahan, discovered discrepancies in the script, discovering Sondheim and John Weldman, who wrote the book, made changes for the Broadway opening. The changes never got into the script. Scripts ordered from Music Theatre international were the published version from the pre-Broadway production. Hanahan requested and received permission from Weldman to incorporate the changes in the production for Next Stage.

This means Next Stage has the honor of being the very first theatre in the country to present the updated book by Weidman. Not bad for a small Denver theatre company and a choreographer sporting dancing feet, a sharp imagination and sharp eagle eyes.

Assassins: undoubtedly the most controversial American musical written to date, controversial perhaps for the wrong reasons.

Directed by Gene Kato, who has an incredible sensitive eye for appeal, appearance and character definition connected with staged fun and frolic simultaneously nudging horror and blatant gruesome deep-seated thoughts on stage at the same time.

Assassins: crossing time and space, brings nine people in American History together in a carnival setting. Nine people whom either assassinated or attempted assassination on Presidents of the United States. Nine people from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald.

Contrary to some scattered popular belief, Assassins does not advocate assassinating anyone. Assassins grabs hold of the courage to look deep into the hearts and minds of these nine people, treating them as human beings, giving them dignity, self respect, and a voice rather than writing them off as satanic evil minded nothings. From what is known about these people through historical documents, it is not infeasible to accept the accounts given. Of course, editorializing allows for poetic license in a fantasy world placing them in the same place at the same time of a carnival setting. The carnival takes the “deadliness” out of the environment, allowing these nine to speak and be heard.

Kato designed the set with a bold announcement: a carnival with several American flags flying high wide and handsome. Signs flash with Kill The Pres and Win The Prize along with lighted signs that flash HIT and MISS. It sparks an immediate striking effect, as well it should be, as well it’s point.

Ironically, the show begins with the nine assassins assembled singing “Everybody’s Got the Right to Have a Dream.” True? Yes. That’s the American Dream, that everybody has the right to dream, and dream big. Our society’s downfall, frequently, is the idea that everybody’s dream should be the same. As long as your dream compliments my dream than everything is cool? Right? Wrong. Reality speaks a different language.

With a stoic expression Ken Paul plays the Proprietor of this particular area of the carnival. With perception he encourages some to play his game, while pointing others in the direction of the bumper cars. Paul also wears the faces of President Ford, President Garfield, and mixes in with the crowd as part of the Ensemble. He sets the stage, and then he wears it.

Gregg Adams displays the agony of Leon Czolgoez who worked in menial jobs in Cleveland. Born in Detroit of Polish immigrant parents, he quit his job in a bottle company after a nervous breakdown, becoming an anarchist. Inspired by the assassination of Italy’s King Umberto by an American anarchist, Czolgoez went to the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo September 6, 1901 and shot President William McKinley at point blank with a $4.50 gun wrapped in a handkerchief. Adams provides flesh and bone to this tormented soul.

Brian Hutchinson storms the stage with power for John Wilkes Booth after shooting President Abraham Lincoln at the Ford’s Theatre April 14, 1865. He wanted to be heard after “killing the man who killed his country.” Offsetting Booth with brilliant commentary, Daniel Langhoff plays the Balladeer insisting the story must be told. The subtle humor playing back and forth between Hutchinson and Langhoff takes the edge off the horrific circumstances and excruciating perception. Langhoff transforms into Lee Harvey Oswald with stunning dissimilarities. It is difficult believe the two characters are played by the same actor.

Although with the entire magnificent cast, pouring their talent into the diverse characters, it would be difficult for anyone to steal a scene, Todd Coulter comes close with his manic display of Charles Guiteau. Weaving back and forth between overindulged vaudevillian antics and deadly serious expressions punctuated with exclamation marks, Coulter takes Guiteau for a flying ride.

He wanted to be Ambassador to France. A once upon a time lawyer, evangelist, and politician, he announced his request to President James Garfield at the Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C. July 2, 1881. When Garfield, laughed off the request, Guiteau shot him in the back twice with a $15.00 pearl handle revolver he envisioned would be displayed in museums. At the scaffold, he recited a poem he wrote “I Am Going To The Lordy” incorporated into succinct Sondheim music.

David Kincannon clutches his stomach duplicating Giuseppe Zangara’s lifelong stomach problems. Born in Italy, his father put him to work at six years of age after his mother died. Nothing helped the pain. Becoming a naturalized citizen at 29, Zangara complaining about his pain responded to someone suggesting shooting President Roosevelt might help. With a $4.00 pistol, he attempted to shoot President-elect Franklin Roosevelt at Bayfront Park, Miami, on February 16, 1933. Barely five feet tall, he missed, shooting Chicago’s Mayor Anton Cermak instead.

In a chilling display of pent-up anger, Rich Hicks carries Sam Byck to the forefront of the stage with agonizing self-inflicted psychic wounds. Byek grew up in an economic distressed family in Philadelphia. Married with four children, unable to keep a job, he failed at several businesses. Spending time in a psychiatric hospital for depression, he focused on the government, blaming it for keeping the poor man down. He narrowed his focus and hatred to President Richard Nixon. He planned on hijacking a 747. On his way to the airport he taped his thoughts to Nixon. Dressed in a Santa Claus suit, he claimed, “there was no Santa.” In 1972 he threatened Nixon’s life, then claimed he was joking when interviewed by the Secret Service.

From television reports and interviews, Jenny Hecht bares an eerie resemblance to Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme in dress, manner, and attitude. Her eyes roll with diluted humor to delusional self-absorption with Charles Manson and her attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford September 5, 1975 along with Sara Jane Moore, deliciously played by Jessica Clare. Pairing Fromme and Moore in an assassination attempt is a scream and a half all by itself. Pairing Hecht and Clare is sheer inspiration. Between Fromme’s undying commitment to Manson, and Moore’s off the wall scatterbrained route of emotions, this is a masterpiece of comedic timing. Their shooting a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken because Colonel Sanders reminds Moore of her father should become a comedic classic. Their stab at giving Sanders image on the bucket the evil eye stands as a momentary masterpiece.

Tyler Collins tears the heart as John Hinkley surrounded by the other assassins goading him to become somebody everyone will remember by killing President John F. Kennedy. Entrapped by saturated infatuation for Jody Foster, one can’t help but feel an unfulfilled empathy for Hinkley and Fromme in the song “Unworthy of Your Love.” Both reveal the capacity for love gone astray by erratic, misguided direction.

The knockout talented cast is completed with Amanda Goldrick giving a stalwart performance as Emma Goldman, a Housewife and Ensemble, Jasper Ryckman as Billy and Ensemble, and Adam Brodner, Kirsten Krieg, and John Richter wearing numerous costumes and facades in the Ensemble.

Setting the tone, rhythm and cadence, the live orchestra openly displayed in full view, features Jason Emory on percussion, Amanda Farnsworth: orchestration and keyboard; Scott Alan Smith: guitar, banjo, harmonica; and Gary Wooley: trumpet. These musicians not only have the notes down pat, they carry the heart and soul of this profound, poignant, startling, and surprisingly funny Sondheim musical.

Go. Squirm if you must. Disagree if you have to. Revel if you have the courage, but Go!! Let the brain rattle over extensive thoughts. Take advantage of the tickled imagination letting it play with friends and family in a cozy coffee shop or a snug bar. The stimulated brain cells will say “Thank You,” and the stretched imagination will bow down in your honor.