The Stephen Sondheim musical “Assassins” feels each incredibly strange and painfully relevant.
That's to not say it's not fascinating or, for probably the most part, good, since it is. Sondheim's critically cynical and satirical rating offers a comic book and piercing lushness that will be haunting in a possible way, questioning the motives of 10 individuals who became famous, or more accurately, for all of the improper reasons. Strange, yes, but it surely's splendidly strange. And what makes the piece such an oddity also contributes to its brilliance.
Which made it all of the more odd to see the show, produced by the San Jose Playhouse, exactly sooner or later after the assassination of former President Donald Trump, the primary assassination attempt on a sitting or former U.S. president since Ronald Reagan survived a bullet in 1981.
Any attempted murder quickly disappears from the rearview mirror once the exhaustive reporting begins, attempting to investigate every angle. The bloody sport of attempting to determine who these crazed shooters are ensures that they continue to be within the news and history books perpetually.
While the musical is way from perfect and accommodates disparate components that don't at all times fit together, it continues to be a difficult and thought-provoking piece, made even more difficult by current events. This production has many impactful moments, but elsewhere it isn't as crisp accurately.
A balladeer (Jeremy Kreamer) provides context for the motion, which takes place in a shooting gallery where the fun and games of pulling the trigger as a sport have powerful targets. Some of history's most notorious assassins make an appearance, including John Wilkes Booth (Stephen Guggenheim), John Hinckley (Ryan Sammonds), Leon Czolgosz (Omar Alejandro), and the bumbling team of Sara Jane Moore (Hayley Aviva) and Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (Alexandra Shephard), with their very odd relationship with Colonel Sanders.
The world is established immediately, with the opening image showing the assassins in a straight line, which is sensible metaphorically and logistically, an all-star forged of the worst hall of famer ever. But what's haunting about this particular moment is how strange these people look. There's something soul-sapping about each face, mouths drawn down, eyes stuffed with glazed, gaunt stare and iron-clad evil intent. Sondheim's brilliance, together with book author John Weidman, lies in how each assassin's motivation varies in scope.
Just note the creepiness of Sammond's Hinckley, who targets Reagan to get the eye of Jodie Foster, certainly one of the strangest intentions of those assassins. And then there's Charles Guiteau (Dario Johnson), the person who killed President James A. Garfield after he was deposed as ambassador to France. Johnson's strong presence and wealthy voice bring each revulsion and empathy to Guiteau's arc.
Whether it's about fame, the eager for an inheritance, the deep anger about one thing or one other, or the perverse belief that somebody should be destroyed for the greater good, the play's critical satire and irony work extraordinarily well.
Many recent faces and a few regulars on the 3Below stage make for a fantastic forged. Kreamer's balladeer, who shapes lots of our interactions with these assassins, is disturbingly transformed into Lee Harvey Oswald, paying close attention to what drove a depressed seeker to show to the villains who got here before him. Theater veteran Rick Haffner provides much of the disturbing irony in a strangely effective monologue, as would Richard Nixon's assassin Samuel Byck.
The harmonious nature of the design sets a critical scene for each disturbing and unsettling moment the characters offer. Songs like “The Ballad of Booth,” “The Gun Song,” “Everybody's Got the Right,” and “November 22, 1963” come to life well in Shannon Guggenheim's video design, in addition to Scott Guggenheim and Jon Gourdine's set and SE Copperman's costumes.
The best theater is usually that which is contemporary, irrespective of when it’s produced. When you watch a play like Assassins, you might be experiencing a show that’s relevant in our current zeitgeist, seamlessly connecting what is occurring on stage with what is occurring outside the theater partitions. Unfortunately, a show written in 1990 is as relevant as ever at a time when polarization in our country appears to be as strong as ever.
'ASSASSIN'
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by John Weidman, presented by the San Jose Playhouse
Through: 4th of August
Where: 3Below Theaters, 288 S. Second St., San Jose
Duration: 90 minutes, no break
Tickets: $45-$65; sanjoseplayhouse.org
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