By Steven Suskin
08 Aug 2004
I went into the 2004 revival of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins with vibrant memories of the original cast. Most of them, anyway. I left the theatre with the old performers joined by new ones. Most of them, anyway. This is uncommon; in cases like this, you usually come out with a clear preference. Today's leads were as strong as yesterday's. There is no sense comparing the old actors to the new; Jonathan Hadary and Denis O'Hare, for example, painted equally remarkable pictures of McKinley's murderer Charles Guiteau.
The new Assassins as a whole was a bit stronger, although this was surely somewhat circumstantial. "All you have to do is move your little finger," Sondheim tells his characters, and "you can change the world." In 1990, this tale of awkward loners setting their sights on Presidents was an historical fantasy. Today, there are warning signs on the streets and in the subways.
The revival one of the strongest the Roundabout has given us in many years was a full-size physical production, with all the bells and whistles and gunshots. This contrasted with the enhanced-workshop surroundings of the Playwrights Horizons mounting, in a theatre a fraction of the size. Musically, too, there was a vast difference. The Roundabout offered 13 players, led by the esteemed Paul Gemignani (entering his fourth decade as Sondheim's musical director of choice). Thirteen years ago, Assassins was performed by two keyboard players Paul Ford (who is still aboard) and orchestrator Michael Starobin with Gemignani conducting from his drum set.
The other major change is the addition of the song "Something Just Broke," which was added to the 1992 production at the Donmar Warehouse in London. (I would guess that the need for this song was apparent to Sondheim and Weidman during the Playwrights production, and that "Something Just Broke" or its equivalent would have been written in time for the 1991 Broadway transfer, which never occurred.) This song is crucial to the piece. After spending the evening with an assortment of assassins, we are suddenly presented with ordinary people that is, you and me. Anyone who has a memory of 1963 remembers what they were doing when something just broke. What made the new Assassins so chilling, today, is that everyone over the age of ten knows what they were doing when something just broke again.
I have always admired the Playwrights Horizon cast album [RCAVictor 60737], which preserved those six or seven memorable performances. (The recording was enhanced with a full orchestration, by Starobin.) Admired, yes, although I must admit that the original Assassins ranks first or second on my list of least-played Sondheim original cast albums. The new album is pretty much identical, with the exception of the aforementioned "Something Just Broke" and some additional sections of dialogue. But the CD sounds significantly more vibrant, more alive. Is this due to director Joe Mantello? the actors? or perhaps the sound engineer? I would have to point to all of these plus the material itself, which has so much more meaning today. "The Gun Song" and "Another National Anthem," especially, are absolutely searing. Always were, I suppose. We just didn't sense what Sondheim sensed.
The bottom line, I suppose, is: Does this new Assassins supplant the worthy original? My answer, on consideration, is a definite yes. Continued...
