Book by John Weidman
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Joe Mantello

Cast
Marc Kudisch – Proprietor
James Barbour – Leon Czolgosz
Alexander Gemignani – John Hinckley
Denis O’Hare – Charles Guiteau
Jeffrey Kuhn – Giuseppe Zangara
Mario Cantone – Samuel Byck
Mary Catherine Garrison – Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme
Becky Ann Baker – Sara Jane Moore
Michael Cerveris – John Wilkes Booth
Neil Patrick Harris – Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald

Roundabout Theater Company at Studio 54, New York
31-Mar-04 to 12-Sep-04

Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman, based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr. It uses the premise of a murderous carnival game to produce a revue-style portrayal of men and women who attempted to assassinate Presidents of the United States. The music varies to reflect the popular music of the eras depicted.

The musical first opened Off-Broadway in 1990, and the 2004 Broadway production won five 2004 Tony Awards.

“Once the assorted misfits and injustice collectors assemble they join the Proprietor in tone setting opening salvo “Everybody’s Got the Right.” From there it’s on to a ghostly parade of losers who present their stories like so many carnival acts, with the Proprietor remaining on the sideline as an occasional commentator. The main narrator, however, is a strolling Balladeer, who turns out to be one of the gang of shooters when he morphs into the character of Lee Harvey Oswald (Neil Patrick Harris deftly handling both roles, though it would have been nice if the otherwise smart costume designer Susan Hilferty had given him more of a balladeer look).”
CurtainUp

“It’s Neil Patrick Harris, in two roles, who makes the strongest impression. He not only plays the Balladeer, who shows up to translate the assassins’ accomplishments into the popular vernacular of folk music, but also Lee Harvey Oswald, who proves a lynchpin of modern history, for the assassins and for us. His major scene, which occurs near the end of the play, is the production’s most harrowing and effective.

He’s coerced, by Booth and the others, into committing his violent act through much the same language the Proprietor uses in the opening number. Watching Harris’s face slowly twist into the recognition and the acceptance of their ideas, and seeing him decide to alter a national consciousness for these reasons, makes Oswald’s needs – and the other assassins’ – feel their most terrifyingly human.”
Talkin’ Broadway

“What it’s got is an imaginative set, amazing sound design, a clever score and a talented ensemble cast, though Michael Cerveris, Neil Patrick Harris and Mario Cantone are standouts.”
Fern Siegel

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