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Assassins
Original Cast Recording
Starring Victor Garber, Terrence Mann, Patrick Cassidy, others
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by John Weidman
9 Tracks
Read an off-site Synopsis of the show. (This is also an excellent link for info about the show in general.)
Assassins is definitely not for everyone. I can tell you that right now.
That said, I love it. It's a rotten shame it keeps being kept off of Broadway. I think some people tend to miss the point; the show does not try to vindicate or support the assassins, nor does it support the use of guns, or anything else like that. You have to listen closer. The assassins get to have their say, but their claims are refuted by the Balladeer. Not to mention the simple fact that if you walked up to anyone today and asked them if they knew who Leon Czolgosz was, they'd have no clue. Ditto for Guiteau, I bet. (No, your history teachers do NOT count.) Nobody remembers these guys.
Besides, the show makes darned good points. If you want to discredit a president, assassination is definitely NOT the way to go. (Leaving the moral question aside for a moment.) Take notice of this quote:
"But traitors just get jeers and boos
Not visits to their graves.
While Lincoln, who got mixed reviews
Because of you, John, now gets only raves."
--The Ballad of Booth
And it's true.
Sondheim's music is fabulous. Each song mimics some kind of American style - "Gun Song" is a barbershop quartet, "The Ballad of Czolgosz" is a hoe-down, and "How I Saved Roosevelt" sounds exactly like a Sousa march. It's a perfect way to tell this story. Not to mention the prominent recurrence of the presidential march, "Hail to the Chief." The most subtle musical touch is the opening notes of "Another National Anthem" - on the syllables "There's an-oth-" Three notes that in that form won't jog your memory, but sing them in reverse order. Remind you of anything? No? Try singing those three notes in their reverse order, then sing "Oh, say, can you see?" Now notice anything? It's the same. The opening notes of "Another National Anthem" is just the inverted opening of our own real national anthem. Subtle, no?
The vocal talent on this album is fantastic. Victor Garber has a great voice and makes an excellent Booth. The anguish he puts into "The Ballad of Booth" is incredible; while still condemning his actions, I still felt a bit sorry for him! Because after all we did forget. Sure, most people know John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln, but how many people know why? Do you? And vocally Garber is perfect for the role. I've been know to play the lines "Let them cry 'dirty traitor' - they will understand it later!" multiple times in a row. :-)
This album also has the fabulous Terrence Mann on it. Reason enough for me to buy it. Mann plays Leon Czolgoz, pronounced "cholgosh" - the man who shot William McKinley. He doesn't have an enormous singing role, his biggest part being his bits of "Gun Song," but his voice is awesome and he brings the quiet, brooding Czolgosz to life admirably.
Patrick Cassidy is a great Balladeer, and the rest of the cast all have excellent voices. I can't pick a favorite song. "The Ballad of Booth" - set to a barn-dance fiddle tune style - is great, as I've said. So is "The Ballad of Czolgoz."
The songs alone do not represent the whole show, and one thing about this album is that it is difficult to draw a complete picture of the musical from just the songs. I have never seen the show live, but I know there is a lot missing. Also, the CD does not have the song "Something Just Broke" which was added later for the London Production.
The songs don't draw to any real conclusion by themselves, so a long excerpt of spoken dialogue is included - "November 22, 1963" - in which the assassins, led by Booth, appear to Lee Harvey Oswald and convince him to shoot JFK to give his own life and theirs some meaning. It's a very disturbing scene, and I'd like to add a small warning here. I was not alive in 1963, and I do not personally remember that event. I still find the scene very disturbing, but I think it is far, far worse for those who do have those memories. I can sympathize a little if I try to imagine how I would feel if it was bin Laden or the two Columbine students they were goading, instead of Oswald. For those who remember exactly where they were when they heard the words, "The President has been shot," this scene may prove a bit too much to take. I think it's only fair to warn you. There's nothing wrong with the scene, it doesn't support Oswald's action at all, but it's still disturbing.
I find it interesting that this is one of those shows with absolutely no protagonists. None. The assassins provide an interesting assortment of characters, however. From Charles Guiteau, who shot James Garfield and wrote a poem called "I Am Going to the Lordy" as he was led to the scaffold, to James Hinckley, who tried to shoot Ronald Reagan because he (Hinckley) was in love with Jodie Foster, to Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme who tried to shoot Gerald Ford in order to bring Charles Manson publicity, they are all antagonists and yet they're the only characters we've got. The songs are an excellent assortment, too. In "How I Saved Roosevelt" - the Sousa-march style number - some bystanders explain how they themselves were responsible for assassin Giuseppe Zangara's missing Roosevelt (each declaring brightly, "Lucky I was there!"). This alternates with a slow tarantella dance in which Zangara, strapped into the electric chair, declares his motives - a combination of oppression and stomach pain.
I still think that the sometimes disturbing content is no reason to censor the show or stop it from being performed, although I understand that sometimes The Powers That Be feel the public isn't in the mood for such a thing. The indefinite postponement of the show's opening on Broadway in November 2001 in response to the September 11 attacks is perfectly understandable. Especially when one remembers that Samuel Byck, would-be assassin of Nixon, has a monologue in the show in which he declares his intention of crashing a 747 into the White house to "incinerate Nixon." The public would probably not respond well. It's too bad that the world works that way, because Assassins is a fantastic piece of work. Still, it's understandable to postpone the opening of the show.
It's not understandable to ban or censor the work, and if I hear of anyone doing that I will be furious. I realize this is the kind of show that would call down the wrath of the populace, too; it requires an understanding of satire to appreciate it. With Sondheim shows, the one thing you must never do is take anything literally. :-) It's all carefully inlaid with deeper meaning. Also please at least occasionally listen to the Balladeer. After all, that's where the themes are stated plainly!
I love this show, and I love this CD. I heartily reccomend that everyone listen to it at least once. I know a lot of people will hate it. But a lot will like it too. If you like Stephen Sondheim's work, you'll probably like this. If you don't, hey, that's life. But I demand that everyone give themselves the chance to like it!
