There is something truly remarkable about an artist who can start their artistic career contributing to a knock-off of a Shakespeare play and then over time deliver a series of original musicals that change American Theatre.
The legacy of America’s greatest living musical artist Stephen Sondheim, whose early work on “West Side Story” would propel him to create award-winning works based on a giant art painting hanging in a Chicago Museum (“Sunday in the Park with George”) to a vengeful barber whose shaving skills prove deadly and delicious (“Sweeny Todd”), is a reminder of his incredible ability to take what could be humdrum and make it really sing.
Included often on those top lists of the composer’s best works is a tiny, more obscure musical titled “Assassins" — a show about a cast of folks who have attempted or succeeded in killing a U.S. President. Like I said, he can take the most unlikely of material and turn it into a memorable and completely hum-able production.
The musical format allows Sondheim to recast these historical assassins into a opening setting of a carnival. Right out of the gate, weapons are produced as the audience meets the cast one by one, which include John Hinkley, Jr., Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, Giuseppe Zangar, John Wilkes Booth, and many others.
This new production of “
Assassins” comes from our local
Heritage Theatre Group and is the musical’s third time (at least) that it has been staged in Grand Rapids. It arrives (yet again) during a period of our history when violence in America is still a national topic, making the viewing of this latest production perfectly timed as the story dives into the motivations of these infamous characters brought back to life on stage. (Lifestyle Editor’s note: Actor’s Theatre of Grand Rapids has staged “Assassins” twice and it is probably the only musical in their history to be repeated twice.)
Our local production is filled with veteran actors of Grand Rapids stages as well as plenty of newish ones to our local theatre scene.
“Assassins” is directed and choreographed by Krista Pennington with vocal direction provide by Ross Johnson and features actors Amy Cain, Will Porter, Nate Reynolds, Shane German, Ryan Owen, Ricardo Tavarez, Charles Decker, Ian Grell, Hope Swanson, and Eva Swiatek. The musical also has a chorus that includes Katy Scott, Rod Zamarron, Jeffery Wyckoff, and Audrey Moore. This production is stage managed by Carlie Bergsma.
Sondheim is a true gift to the American musical theatre. If you miss this restating of “Assassins,” who knows how long before it returns again here locally. (Hint: Don’t miss it.)