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 Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:18 pm
I loved Assassins the first time I heard the original CD from the 1993 production. Now mind you, I didn't want to. After all, it's not the greatest subject of a musical, though I personally loved it. but the opening number with a guy asking others if they're feeling blue and and don't know what to do. "Come here and kill the president!" God, that's funny.
Also the folk score of the different ballads were great! They really got you into the feel of the show. It really needed a folky feeling I think to reach you.
I went to New York specifically to see the Broadway production because I just had to. I loved Neil Patrick Harris as the Balladeer. He had such stage presence. I must say though that I hated the idea the he also played the part of Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated John F. Kennedy. From what I could tell from the original CD liner notes and songs, someone else played Oswald and the assassins scared the Balladeer off stage. While that was obviously undramatic, I think it gives a bad message if the audience can think that the Balladeer is turned into an assassin, therefore joining the ranks of the others. After all, he's our voice of righteousness, of normalcy. But now, he becomes a killer. Whether they mean it to be the Balladeer or not, it's obviously the same actor and you can't easily lose track of that.
I also didn't like Denis O'Hare's effeminite portrayal of Charles Guiteau. I have only Jonathan Hadary's performance to go on, and he was much more masculine. Maybe it's because I heard Hadary's performance first that it sticks out as the definitive portrayal. I must say though I liked that added song about the murder of JFK. It was so emotional.
I really like Assassins. Too bad it wasn't able to get a longer production.
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Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:02 am
I love Assassins, but I've never heard the original CD. Knowing me I'll probably buy it just to have every recording ever made. (I'm still looking for other recordings of Sweeney just so I can have them.)
Anyway, I think that it's a great musical, but a tough one to swallow. Especially when I found myself relating to the assassins themselves. The musical shows that despite their (negative) role in history, they're still human, they still feel. At first I liked it, then I avoided it, and now I love it.
My favorite song would have to be Unworthy of Your Love. But The Ballad Of Guiteau is probably a close second, and Another National Anthem is amazing.
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-epic!insomnia- Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 3:58 pm
Assassins is such a great play but it is historical. These were actual people who lived and, er, loved.
My favorite song is Everybody's Got the Right. It is so Broadway. biggrin
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Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:02 am
I actually got to see a bootleg of Assassins! biggrin
It was great. Wonderful. Amazing. whee
There were a lot of funny moments, but some really dramatic ones too. The scene before Unworthy of Your Love is definitely one of the dramatic ones. I really wanted to slap Squeaky in the face for a moment there because I just felt so bad for Hinckley.
But anyway, I'm kinda casting my own little production of Assassins among my friends. I don't know if we'll ever perform it, but I still aspire to be in Assassins one day. And play Squeaky. :3
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-epic!insomnia- Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:38 pm
Who Balladeer always becomes Oswald. He changes his posture, takes of the plaid overshirt, loses his happiness... Anyways, The Proprietor is a favorite of mine. I believe that showing these assassins are effectively blaming our culture for making people believe that they can have anything they want. Also shown at the end is where they fire into the audience. Booth told Oswald that "Adulterers and shopkeepers got murdered". Plenty of them in the audience. Got that last part from an essay on this I read at some point.
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