Review: Assassins, Hayes Theatre

18 September, Hayes Theatre

In Sondheim's "Assassins", a murderer's row of actual and would-be President-killers line up to take their shot. From John Wilkes Booth and John Hinckley, through to some less celebrated figures I was less familiar with - like Charles Manson acolyte Lynette Fromme, or factory labourer Leon Czolgosz - all of them get their turn.

I hear Hayes Theatre has been on a golden run of musicals lately - not that I would know, as I missed seeing the blockbusters like Calamity Jane (returning for a second run at Belvoir in 2018, which I'll try to catch) and was last here for The Detective's Handbook in May 2016.

This one at least was very good - a blackly funny production with great energy that builds steadily to a finale that felt epic. For the most part the show seems quite straightforwardly a revue, with each character taking their moment in the limelight to say their piece. But then the last act, when the final assassin takes the stage, caps the story so well - plotting-wise, it's so structurally complete and logical; and thematically, it pulls everything together in a most satisfying way, so that this idea of a time-hopping, anachronistic rogue's gallery turns from merely a framing device into the foundation of the show. Yes, I'm being super vague.

Set in a carnival sideshow, with everyone lining up to knock 'em down for a prize, "Assassins" holds up a funhouse mirror to the American dream. For every action a reaction; for every lofty promise, someone left outside in the cold. These people too, for all their rage and frustrations and twisted fantasies, are part and parcel of the American dream - the dark flipside to the myth that says anyone can become President of the USA.

In many ways this felt like a very fitting companion piece to the recent NT Live screenings of Angels in America which too is so concerned with the hypocrisies and cracks and inequalities that are obscured by the myth of America - concerns that still seem very (extremely) relevant today, and in Australia.

There were great performances all around, all pitched at just the right tone to fit that funhouse theme. Perhaps I'd single out the actor who had to take on the demented, manic energy of self-deluded fraudster Charles Giteau, a role that seemed to walk a really fine line between pathetic and unhinged, and the actor in the role of John Wilkes Booth which in many ways binds the story together. I also really liked the actresses in the two major women's roles, of Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme and housewife Sara Jane Moore. (Cast is listed below but I have no idea who played who, sorry.)

I admit that I did utter the most cliché thing as we left, i.e. "I didn't think the music was very catchy." SORRY, I know it's the most boring thing you can say about Sondheim! I did like some of the songs, but overall, I mean. Sweeney Todd is catchier?

At just under two hours, this was an EXCELLENT LENGTH, and excellent, thrilling entertainment. Very effective use of the small stage, and proof again that you don't need a massive budget or an STC-sized canvas or huge stars to make very good theatre.
 

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by John Weidman
ASSASSINS is based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr.
Director Dean Bryant
Musical Directors Andrew Worboys and Steven Kreamer
Choreographer Andrew Hallsworth
Set & Costume Designer Alicia Clements
Lighting Designer Ross Graham
Executive Producer Lisa Campbell
Starring Laura Bunting, David Campbell, Connor Crawford, Martin Crewes, Kate Cole, Bobby Fox, Hannah Fredericksen, Jason Kos, Rob McDougall, Maxwell Simon and Justin Smith