Assassins (Shotgun Players, Ashby Stage)
Fri, Nov. 2nd, 2012 10:56 am(in which ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
starlady's post reminds me to finish and post this)
I've seen Assassins once before: it was my freshman year and the first theatrical production I would see in college. It was also my first exposure to Sondheim outside of West Side Story; I had no idea who he was or that I would later find many extremely passionate Sondheim fans in fandom.
I remember coming out of the theater absolutely stunned; I had seen some commentary in musicals before, but nothing quite like this, definitely nothing this dark and this biting.
Since then, I've become a fan of several of his shows, though I'm not hardcore enough to have listened to them all, and I've been lucky enough to see a few staged (mostly by local troupes or college productions, though I really should write up the revival of A Little Night Music I saw in NY in 2010). Assassins is still one of my favorites, in large part due tocoffeeandink's write up of the 2004 revival, which prompted me to buy the cast album. I prefer the revival to the original, in part due to familiarity, in part due to recording additions that make it more satisfying to listen to as an album, and largely due to one major change the revival made.
This staging uses the revival changes, with the additional change of no extra cast outside of the assassins, the Balladeer, and the Proprieter. So the assassins who aren't the main character in a scene play bystanders and witnesses, which is a nice way of visually conveying the ordinariness of the assassins. The staging is a carnival setting, although I really wish there had been the light-up prize when a president is assassinated, along with the "DING DING DING DING DING" of the bell in the recordings. It was a bit like watching a production of Sweeney Todd without that ear-piercing whistle.
The Balladeer was an excellent singer and sounded a lot like Neil Patrick Harris, but unfortunately, his mike wasn't working very well the night CB and I went to see it. Also, he plays the banjo himself, which would be nice except for the whole overpowering of the voice. And given his role as a key narrator to several of the assassinations and as the viewpoint most set against the assassins, it felt like a big loss. Similarly, while I liked the Proprieter's scary stage presence, he could not sing, and as such, he only lurks in the background for most of the production, instead of taking a more active role. He does give all the assassins their guns in the first number, but outside of that, he's not a very large figure in the musical.
( Cut for length )
( Spoilers for revival staging (and Buffy) )
( Assorted personal and political thoughts )
In conclusion: still one of my favorite Sondheim albums and one of my favorite Sondheim musicals, though I can see how some people might think of the pacing of the show and its composition as a series of individual narratives before Lee Harvey Oswald as a flaw.
Also, I am disproportionately amused by listening to "We're the other national anthem, folks, the ones who can't get in to the ballpark" in a production happening at the same time the Giants were playing a World Series game.
Production details
starlady's post reminds me to finish and post this)I've seen Assassins once before: it was my freshman year and the first theatrical production I would see in college. It was also my first exposure to Sondheim outside of West Side Story; I had no idea who he was or that I would later find many extremely passionate Sondheim fans in fandom.
I remember coming out of the theater absolutely stunned; I had seen some commentary in musicals before, but nothing quite like this, definitely nothing this dark and this biting.
Since then, I've become a fan of several of his shows, though I'm not hardcore enough to have listened to them all, and I've been lucky enough to see a few staged (mostly by local troupes or college productions, though I really should write up the revival of A Little Night Music I saw in NY in 2010). Assassins is still one of my favorites, in large part due to
coffeeandink's write up of the 2004 revival, which prompted me to buy the cast album. I prefer the revival to the original, in part due to familiarity, in part due to recording additions that make it more satisfying to listen to as an album, and largely due to one major change the revival made. This staging uses the revival changes, with the additional change of no extra cast outside of the assassins, the Balladeer, and the Proprieter. So the assassins who aren't the main character in a scene play bystanders and witnesses, which is a nice way of visually conveying the ordinariness of the assassins. The staging is a carnival setting, although I really wish there had been the light-up prize when a president is assassinated, along with the "DING DING DING DING DING" of the bell in the recordings. It was a bit like watching a production of Sweeney Todd without that ear-piercing whistle.
The Balladeer was an excellent singer and sounded a lot like Neil Patrick Harris, but unfortunately, his mike wasn't working very well the night CB and I went to see it. Also, he plays the banjo himself, which would be nice except for the whole overpowering of the voice. And given his role as a key narrator to several of the assassinations and as the viewpoint most set against the assassins, it felt like a big loss. Similarly, while I liked the Proprieter's scary stage presence, he could not sing, and as such, he only lurks in the background for most of the production, instead of taking a more active role. He does give all the assassins their guns in the first number, but outside of that, he's not a very large figure in the musical.
( Cut for length )
( Spoilers for revival staging (and Buffy) )
( Assorted personal and political thoughts )
In conclusion: still one of my favorite Sondheim albums and one of my favorite Sondheim musicals, though I can see how some people might think of the pacing of the show and its composition as a series of individual narratives before Lee Harvey Oswald as a flaw.
Also, I am disproportionately amused by listening to "We're the other national anthem, folks, the ones who can't get in to the ballpark" in a production happening at the same time the Giants were playing a World Series game.
Production details
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