Assassins

There is a revival planned to open in the spring or the fall at Studio 54.

Assassins was not a flop when it first played NYC. It was sold out at Playwrights Horizons. They were going to move the original cast Off-Broadway but they had trouble getting the theater they wanted. Additionally some of the financing didn't come through. Weeks passed, the original actors took other work and the project just lost momentum. But it was never considered a flop.

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i have to disagree with the venerable and respected Mr. Roxy there. I think that score as is to be one of the greatest achievements (though underappreciated) since the 1980's. The show will likely be a successor to NIGHT MUSIC and SWEENEY and enter the opera repertoire. The way Sondheim both celebrates and subtly twists the traditions of American music, then relates them to the alternate version of that "american dream and drive" is a brilliant masterstroke. Listening to that score, you hear Sousa, and Copland, and ritual music that graces graduations and state occasions and memorials, campaign songs, story-telling ballads, barbershop quartets, even folk rock like the Carpenters. All American sounds/traditions for a not truly "anti-American" thesis. The score plays like a soundtrack for every quintessential American scene in countless films, which comforts us at the same time the content of the libretto and lyrics disturb us. It's inherent dramatic tension, wonderfully evoked. And his lyrics are all so strong, without being esoteric for the majority like some of his work. This show is incredible when performed well. That Santa monolog, and the women's duet scene, are the best examples of black humor I can think of. The show needs a revival, but when the mood of the country is right. It may never be a commercial success and that doesn't matter. It's art, which isn't easy! *grin* Meanwhile, its regional and academic life keeps us aware of it. Long live ASSASSINS!

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