Assassins at City Center: Weird in the Best Way Possible

I've always thought that in musical theatre, there were two camps.  In the first camp, you have the Sondheim fans; the lovers of all things Into the Woods or A Little Night Music. And in the other, you have the Andrew Lloyd Webber fans; those that gravitate to "Jesus Christ Superstar" or Phantom of the Opera.  I have always been in the Andrew Lloyd Webber camp.  Jesus Christ Superstar was the first musical I ever saw, and Phantom was the first I saw live.  So you can say Lord Lloyd Webber has a special place in my heart.

Sondheim, on the other hand, not so much.  Until recently (we're talking just last month) I'd never seen a single Sondheim show.  In my mind, he was too classic for me.  I like new and different, and I'm not such a fan of the high soprano.  However, as I wrote about here, I saw the marvelous production of Sweeney Todd at the Barrow Street, and just fell head over heels for it.  So I decided that it might be time to give Sondheim another shot, which is how I found myself seeing Assassins at City Center (oh, and it must be said, NY City Center is beautiful! If you're a fan of great architecture and design, I'd definitely recommend seeing a show there.) Encores this past weekend.

On paper, this show is so not a me show.  It's about people who kill presidents or try to kill presidents, as the case may be, and it's written by Sondheim.  However, the piece you're missing is Steven Pasquale was playing John Wilkes Booth.  After seeing him in The Robber Bridegroom, I've been dying to see him in something else.  And let me tell you, he did not disappoint. 

But let's start at the beginning.  Did I like the show?  Surprisingly, yep!  I sort of loved it.  It was weird and sarcastic in the best way possible.  It's meant to be a satire, which worked really well for the strange concept - assassins and would be assassins all meeting in some strange cafe.  I'm not sure the music tells the story as well as Sondheim hoped, but the songs themselves are pretty fantastic.  A few of them have been playing in my head since last weekend.  

Now I may have mixed reviews on the show itself, but the cast was 100% fabulous in every way.  Steven Pasquale as John Wilkes Booth, was a perfect fit.  This Booth is sarcastic, and droll, and he plays that so well.  Booth was given all the best lines, in my opinion, and he nailed them all.  The rest of the assassins were also quite good in their parts.  The 2 women - Squeaky Fromme and Sarah Jane Moore were meant to be the comic relief of the show, which they did flawlessly.  I can't help but giggle at Sarah Jane.  She was not the greatest with her particular gun - often pointing it at people to emphasize a point -, and when the bullets fell out while she was attempting to kill the President, she threw them at Gerald Ford instead - something, that apparently really happened.  At least in this instance, being truly terrible at your job is an asset.

The most uplifting part of the show, was something I'm sure Sondheim never imagined it would be.  In one of the first songs, the Balladeer sings - "Every now and then the country goes a little wrong.  Every now and then a madman's bound to come along, Doesn't stop the story, story's pretty strong. Doesn't change the song."  The first 2 sentences of that lyric got extended applause.  I'm sure you can guess who the audience was equating that description to.  However, the idea that, our "story's pretty strong" is a happy thought to get us through. 

Like I said, I've always been a Webber girl, and I'm pretty sure I'll stay that way.  But for now, I must admit, there are some definite positives to the Sondheim camp.  I mean, obviously, since he's the biggest name in musical theatre, but also, he's growing on me.  So what I'm now asking is for Broadway to get in on the act and start reviving A Little Night Music and Into the Woods, for all the Sondheim lovers out there, and for me because I may be on the verge of being a fan!