Review: Assassins at Union Theatre
When I saw that the same group that had done Company and the all-male Pirates of Pemzance was doing Sondheim's Assassins, I booked tickets within the hour. I'm pleased to report that it lived up to every expectation and confirmed in my mind that few people can do both crazy and satire as well as Sondheim.
Assassins is an odd little show. It's not quite coherent in terms of structure or narrative flow, and (maybe due to this?) is a bit difficult to stage. Doing it in such a small space worked perfectly, stripped down to the bare basics and forced to rely on the actors, text, and music alone.
Also, whoever did the casting was genius. It's hard and almost unfair to pick out anyone for special mention, but I thought the actor playing the Balladeer was particularly fantastic, and the unspoken tension of him being black against the cast of white, Southern characters (particularly Booth) was perfect. I also really liked that they dressed the (very small) chorus as Secret Service agents, which added a nice tone of "security theatre" to the show. Lots of layering of meaning and symbolism turned this from a potentially very average show into a great one.
It was a little bit surreal to be watching it with a British audience, and I think it upped the tension since the sight of a handgun, let alone so many at the same time, causes a not insignificant degree of distress. Most tried to put on an air of non-chalance, but that didn't last too long. The distress by half way through was palpable, which just heightened the energy the actors had to work with.
Highly, highly recommended. It's a pretty short run, though, so if you want to see it, go soon.