Assassins

[WTripleThreat]

Posted: 6/22/03 at 11:03pm

is this show ever gonna be done again? i lasted i think 2 months off-broadway and i don't understand why it was a flop! what happened to this fantastic show?

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 6/23/03 at 8:31am

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

Posted: 6/23/03 at 6:26pm

well, they were planning on opening it in 2001 with Neil Patrick Harris, and Raul Esparza among others, but the idea closed with the disaster of 911. They figured people wouldn't want to see a show of that title during those tragic times.

The show should be starting up soon, I think...

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/23/03 at 7:15pm

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.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/23/03 at 7:16pm

I would think to, bring it to Broadway, about 5 songs need to be added to the existing score

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 6/24/03 at 2:10pm

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!

[IssaMe]

Posted: 6/25/03 at 6:15am

Agreed ...and a song or two are being added. But let's get through "Bounce" first.