Those Who Saw the 2004 Assassins...

What do you remember? Since we've been in quarantine it's become my "if I had a time machine" production. I saw the 2017 City Center staging and wasn't crazy about it, but I wasn't as familiar with the show then. 

I've seen That Video, but I wish I could have seen it live, particularly for Denis O'Hare and Becky Ann Baker's performances.

Updated On: 6/10/20 at 12:43 PM

Michael Cervaris’s performance in general, but the scene between “Another National Anthem” and “Something Just Broke” where we see the balladeer transform into Lee Harvey Oswald was incredibly powerful. The end with the Zapruder film playing on NPH’s shirt was something else, but the entire scene that starts with Boothe and Oswald alone was great.

Far from the best video ever, but the full show is here.

Here's a link of Becky Ann and Denis on Theater Talk. They address talkbacks, audience walkouts,etc.

As I said, I didn't see the production live, but one of the things I love about the recording is that it includes Byck's second monologue ("The woods are burnin', Dick...". I actually think Cantone does it wonderfully - that was one of the moments I was most looking forward to in the 2017 staging, but was disappointed in the end.

I also agree that Something Just Broke doesn't quite work. There is no moment that is quite as sincere in the entire show. Maybe Unworthy of Your Love, but that has the context of who the two assassins are singing to that makes it clear that it's not just a love song.

Something Just Broke is a tonal departure and the only song in the show dedicated to the ensemble. Every other time they appear, it's the story of the assassins told from their perspective. The assassins get the last word after this, but it's 4 minutes onstage dedicated to a completely different perspective and message. I understand the idea and intention on paper. I don't think it works onstage like this. 

"Something Just Broke" doesn't work for me either. It's like, if just before the climax of Chicago, there was a plaintive choral song about the emotional turmoil felt by the friends and family of the people murdered by the prisoners. At that point in the evening, who gives a damn about them? It's totally unecessary. It also sounds like a trunk song from Passion.

I enjoyed the whole show. I am not a Mario Cantone fan (Although lately he seems to have mellowed a bit) and was not looking forward to seeing him onstage.

Something Just Broke' gave me goose bumps and flowed beautifully into the reprise of "Everybody's Got The Right".  (It was my first time hearing it and the opening notes just hit me.) It instantly shifted the mood with it's more familiar Sondheim sound. The "Bystander 1's" part of the song after "The President is dead", stuck with me.

As much as I would like to see it again, I think it is one of those shows I want to remember with the cast I saw.

Updated On: 6/11/20 at 04:23 PM

I think Assassins is far from Sondheim's best score, but I thought this particular production was near perfect, and I thought it vastly superior to the revivals of Into the Woods (2002), Sweeney Todd (2005) and Company (2006).  The staging choices and the performances, especially of Cerveris, O'Hare and Kudisch, were outstanding.  Also, I thought the inclusion of the skittish 'Something Just Broke' added a paranoid poignancy to the latter part of the show that set up the final sequence perfectly.  This production made me completely rethink my perception of Assassins, which always seemed like an unfinished show to me until I saw this.  I also thought the original cast recording was one of the best of the 2000s.