Why Assassins is beautiful...

nphfan posted on Oct 02, 2008 at 12:48AM

One of many reasons: it is the embodiment of what theatre is meant to be. When a story takes on the form of flesh-and-blood a.k.a. when there is a human, alive and directly in front of you, telling the story a.k.a. theatre - there is a certain connection made between the audience and the story. You become a part of it. Assassins is about history, something we are all a part of. It matches up, you see? And, Assassins is a bold story, one that is too truthful for our own comfort. I don't know about you, but I was paralyzed when I saw it. This brazen honesty is what makes theatre - it's easy to turn off a movie if we get uncomfortable, or to shut a book, but we cannot escape reality being created in front of us. You can't escape theatre. You can't escape the truths of Assassins.

Okay, that kinda sucked, but you get the idea. Assassins is theatre.

Ooh, and I'll give one more reason Assassins is amazing. Hello, Victor Garber, Michael Cerveris, Marc Kudisch, NEIL PATRICK HARRIS!!!!!!!!! And more. This show has had some excellent casts.

11 replies

	judesmommy said: I definitely agree. And it helps when the play is written so that the characters are three-dimensional embodiments of the real person in history. I love plays that are about people from history, especially the complicated so called "bad guys". These are men and women we only read about or saw documentaries on the History Channel. I think it's awesome that we have the opportunity to see a representation of these people through an actor's portrayal onstage. Anyway, think we'll see a film version any time soon? posted 11 months ago.

	nphfan said: YAY! someone responded! no, i think this sort of honest storytelling belongs exclusively to theatre, to be interpreted in several ways throughout the ages. posted 11 months ago.

	judesmommy said: I agree. Works better on stage rather than on the big screen. I am not sure it would translate very well. Plus, even with shows like Rent and Phantom they took out much of the singing when they were made into films. I think that it losing a lot when that happens. posted 10 months ago.

	nphfan said: yeah, but you do need to translate it into film. take the producers - it's basically the musical filmed. it's just too theatrical (although i love it.) the meaning sometimes get lost in translation, though, and i think it definitely would be in a film of assassins. posted 10 months ago.

	nphfan said: yeah, but you do need to translate it into film. take the producers - it's basically the musical filmed. it's just too theatrical (although i love it.) the meaning sometimes get lost in translation, though, and i think it definitely would be in a film of assassins. posted 10 months ago.

	disney505218 said: I don't really think it would be that great of a film. It's too...I dunno, epic. You can't really take a bunch of theatre songs and acting and stick it in a movie, if you want a good outcome. One of the things that defines a good show is something that makes you interested in it's subject. And that's what this show did. It also helped, of course, that Neil Patrick Harris was in it, ;) But seriously, I just wish people would stop being like, "Gutaue? What's a gutaue?" posted 10 months ago.

	nphfan said: exactly. i agree. wait what is a gutaue? haha i think you mean guiteau. just joking around. i know what you meant. posted 10 months ago.

	disney505218 said: oh, sorry. :) I've only gotten one person to say, "You mean like Charles Guiteau? The Assassin?" And then he just stared at me like I was a freak. X) posted 10 months ago.

	nphfan said: oh wow i'm sorry lol. posted 10 months ago.

	disney505218 said: lol, it's not your fault. It's kinda funny, really! People just don't see how an assassin can be interesting, too! posted 10 months ago.

	nphfan said: haha yeah posted 10 months ago.