Assassins — Page 2

Having just seen 2 versions of Assassins (poor) at last year's Edinburgh Festival, I would dearly have loved to see the original show with Victor Garber & Debra Monk - I must try and get the original cast recording! P.S. Does anyone like the latest way of staging Sweeney Todd (and what about Company!)? probably, a new thread required!

Eric - I totally agree with you on "Unworhty of your Love" on the Broadway Cast Recording. It definately is the one song that is suppose to sound overly popish and sugary - only to go 180 on the lyrics which are scary, wrong and creepy. That is what makes that song on the Off-Broadway Cast Recording for me so utterly brilliant.

Carpenter song from hell... that is brilliant! (And having got that Barbie Doll Karen Carpenter biopic - I can actually picture it).

I remember in the "Putting it Together" DVD where Ruthie Hensell & John Barrowman did that version, changing Jodie/Charlie to 'darling'. It just didn't work and in fact sullied what was otherwise a good show.

I understand the fun of revues is to mix things up a bit and take things from a different angle, but to try and make a standard sappy love song with lines like "Tell me to tear my heart in two" and "I'll crawl belly deep through hell" really, really just. doesn't. work.

Oh, thanks for the compliment, you are pretty damn good yourself!

I agree with LuvUrBatBoy... I think that the show needs that moment so that the audience doesn't go into the reprise of Everybody's Got the Right with an extremely bad tastes in their mouths. By acknowledging the shock that the audience feels when Oswald shoots Kennedy, they don't shut out the final perspective of the assassins in defensiveness. Yes, it's a jarring perspective change, but that particular event is jarring enough that it requires it.

I prefer the original overall, because the cast is just so absolutely perfect. I do enjoy some things more on the Broadway CD (I like the changes they made to the Baladeer a LOT and NPH is to die for), but I always end up going back to the original. It was my first Sondheim CD, so I'll always have a soft spot for it in my heart.

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It's definitely a combo for me:

1) Everybody's Got the Right-Revival
2) Ballad of Booth-Original (although I wish I could put Victor and NPH together)
3) How I Saved Roosevelt- Original (Eddie Korbich's high notes are effortless)
4) Gun Song-Original (The blend of the quartet is much much better)
5) Ballad of Czolgosz-Revival (I like the quicker tempo)
6) Unworthy of Your Love-Original (I love Alex Gemigniani but am not a fan of Mary Catherine Garrison in that song-she was good in the role but I much prefer Annie Golden)
7) I Am Going to The Lordy-Revival for so many reasons...mostly because Patrick Cassidy is painful on this song in the original
Another National Anthem-Revival-I like the orchestrations better
9) Finale-Revival-mostly because in the original at the end with the final gunshot it sounds like someone forgot to fire so there are two shots very close to each other and it just sounds dumb...could they not re record that?

SO on my little composite CD I also threw in Something Just Broke and the Oswald scene-I agree, that scene changes the whole listening experience.

I'm getting ready to direct a production of this...we're having the Balladeer turn to Oswald but not having the proprietor as the Devil's Advocate Mark Kudisch guy. And we're putting in SJB, mostly because I think if you take the people's voice (the balladeer) away and turn him into an assassin, you have to leave that song in or the audience comes away with the wrong message.

So, in short, a combination (it's a good thing I'm at work right now being so productive!)

KQuill, I prefer the Broadway Revival, despite the fact that I originally heard the Original Off-Broadway Recording. I only got the Broadway Revival because I was so intrigued by the original. On the other hand, a friend of mine was totally indifferent to the show until she heard the revival. I think Neil Patrick Harris as the balladeer, The Ballad of Guiteau (which I find uninteresting in the original, but adore in the revival), and the inclusion of Sam Byck's "Have it Your Way" monologue are what make me prefer the revival.

However, in my mind, Victor Garber (who I did hear first) is the definitive John Wilkes Booth. I like Michael Cerveris a lot, and I believe he deserves every award he gets. But I find him to be too harsh, and too prone to yelling and/or growling. Too choppy, perhaps? (He was like this in Sweeney Todd too, but it bugged me much less.) It seems like sometimes he works against the music- with the growling, and the harshness- instead of letting the music help him convey what he needs too. When he gets quiet during the Ballad of Booth, it's beautiful, but I don't like the harshness in his yell. Still, his performance is rather remarkable.

I would buy the original cast just for Victor Garber's Booth. But that's just as much for November 22, 1963 in its entirity as it is for Garber's Ballad.

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Cool. I'm not implying that anyone would be at fault because of that...and though i'm no psychologist...I think if you love the album you hear first...its hard to have any other adaptation compare to it no matter what.

I haven't really heard much of the Original, but I just love the Broadway cast and the recording.

Updated On: 4/28/07 at 07:47 PM

Wow I think the original still sounds magnificent (besides a bit of distortion in Unworthy...)