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Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by John Weidman and was based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr. It uses a revue-like style to examine the men and women who have attempted and/or succeeded in assassinating a U.S. President. The style of the music varies widely, reflecting the different styles of music popular at the times of the events depicted.
Assassins opened off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons on January 27, 1991, and played 71 performances.
The cast included Victor Garber, Terrance Mann, Patrick Cassidy, Debra Monk, and Annie Golden.
The musical was supposed to have its first Broadway production in 2001, but the show was postponed after the events of September 11, 2001.
Assassins received its Broadway debut on April 22, 2004. The Roundabout Theatre Company opened the show on Broadway at Studio 54. After a limited run of 101 performances, it closed on July 18th, 2004. The performance starred Neil Patrick Harris, who is best known for his title role in the television series Doogie Howser, M.D., as the Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald. The production was noted for a coup de theatre in which the Zapruder film of the assassination of John F. Kennedy was projected on the t-shirt of Neil Patrick Harris.
The 2004 production won six out of seven 2004 Tony awards for which it was nominated (Best Revival of a Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Cerveris), Best Lighting Design (Peggy Eisenhauer and Jules Fisher), Best Direction of a Musical (Joe Mantello), and Best Orchestrations (Michael Starobin).
Roles
Musical Numbers
- "Everybody's Got the Right" (The Proprietor, Booth & The Assassins)
- "The Ballad of Booth" (The Balladeer, Booth)
- "How I Saved Roosevelt" (Zangara & Company)
- "Gun Song" (Czolgosz, Booth, Guiteau & Moore)
- "The Ballad of Czolgosz" (The Balladeer & Company)
- "Unworthy of Your Love" (Hinckley & Fromme)
- "The Ballad of Guiteau" (Guiteau & The Balladeer)
- "Another National Anthem" (The Assassins, The Balladeer & The Proprietor)
- "November 22, 1963" (not a musical number, but a scene included on the recordings.)
- "Something Just Broke" (added during the 1992 London production at the Donmar Warehouse)
- "Finale: Everybody's Got the Right" (The Assassins)
The Finale is also sometimes listed as "You Can Close the New York Stock Exchange."
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