"Hey, pal, feelin' blue?" I leaned forward slightly in my seat as a certain proprietor smiled deviously. The man to whom his message was addressed, a tall fellow with a gray cap, was so close to me I could reach out and touch him. I felt a shudder run down my spine. Already overwhelmed with the powerful theatre I was about to experience, I felt myself being engulfed within the story, becoming a part of it. It was there, in the front row seat of the Plaza Theater in Boston, that I faced the terrifying yet thrilling Sondheim and Weidman musical Assassins.
Assassins is a fascinating musical that explores the underbelly of American history. It takes place at a symbolic carnival game, the kind where you shoot at a target in order to win a prize, and it tells the story of the United States citizens who, throughout history, have attempted to assassinate a president. I realize how lunatic that sounds, as I'm sure Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman also noticed as they were writing it. These people are killers; why should they have a musical written about them?
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