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

Review: Angels in America, NT Live

10 and 17 September, NT Live, Dendy Opera Quays

Set in 1980s America, under Reagan and in the midst of the AIDS crisis, this epic two-part play tells the story of urbane thirty-year-old Prior who is diagnosed with AIDS, and his lover Louis who can't deal with the reality of Prior's illness. Their lives intertwine with depressed Harper, who is married to Joe, a closeted gay man seen as a future potential star by conservative power player Ray Cohn. And then Prior becomes convinced he's seen an Angel...

I love this play for the way it draws these complex, often contradictory characters with compassion, and the way it's unafraid to talk about big ideas and tackle huge themes, mixing reality with fantasia as it questions the nature of the American dream. Running over six hours long - or over seven hours for this broadcast - it's a massive canvas which, when done well, feels vital and energised from start to finish. Though sadly, in the over twenty years since it premiered, it seems in some respects the world hasn't progressed very far at all.

My expectations were reasonably high for this NT Live production (filmed for international broadcast) of Tony Kushner's now-iconic play - it has quite the star-studded cast, featuring Andrew Garfield as Prior, Russell Tovey as Joe, and Nathan Lane as Cohn, and it's lavishly staged. The design is quite clean and minimalist, incorporating many moving parts - sets moving in and out and up and down, accentuated by neon. All the ingredients seemed to be in place for a great production of one of my favourite plays.

And yet, overall, it didn't quite hit the mark for me. I found the staging distracting at times, the way they broke up the stage into little mini-stages for the first half especially a waste of the large space.

The performances were solid as a whole, but I felt that most of them started at a high pitch, leaving the performers little choice but to stay at that pitch or to edge upwards into hysteria. Garfield, as the emotional centre of the play, isn't bad but seems to spend most of the play yelling or crying which grew wearying. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as nurse Belize probably comes off best by contrast, the grounding presence to the histrionics around him. Worst of all were the scenes when multiple conversations happen at once - these often felt like people just shouting over each other.

Mostly, I couldn't help but compare this production to the Eamon Flack-directed Belvoir St Theatre production of 2013 - my favourite production that year, and in hindsight one of my favourites ever. I connected so deeply to the performances by Luke Mullins, Mitchell Butel, Amber McMahon, and the rest; and I felt that they did so much with so much less, using one small stage to fantastic effect, achieving the illusion of multiple settings through simple prop changes and contextual framing.

When the material is as good and complex as this, and also as long and challenging as this, a million bells and whistles don't help or enhance if the fundamentals aren't all there.

The NT Live staging is not at all a bad production, I really want to say that, and if this is your opportunity to see Angels in America then by all means take it! It's a play worth seeing, for sure. But I'd then encourage you to seek out other takes.

I also want to lodge my strongest objection to NT Live's practice of framing its products with talking heads introductory content and interviews with cast and crew, even down to having part 2 preceded by a "previously in Angels in America" clip. This is SO UNNECESSARY on so many levels. Firstly we are already here, we don't need to be sold the product again - DID U KNOW people go to the actual live theatre all the time, and don't need to be spoonfed every little thing before it starts? Secondly it rips away the illusion that we are at the theatre at all. Thirdly, please, this thing is already over six hours long, why are you padding it out with even more content? NT Live, please take a leaf from Globe Shakespeare or the ballet companies - just show the thing as it is, no need for extra nonsense. Much like the play itself.
 

Links:
What can Angels in America teach us about the marriage equality debate?
Oral History of Angels in America
 

2017 NT Live

Cast:
Stuart Angell (Angel Shadow), Mark Arnold (Understudy Roy Cohn), Arun Blair-Mangat (Understudy Belize), Susan Brown (Hannah Pitt), Laura Caldow (Angel Shadow), Andrew Garfield (Prior Walter), Denise Gough (Harper Pitt), Kate Harper (Understudy Hannah Pitt), John Hastings (Understudy Joseph Pitt / Louis Ironson), Claire Lambert (Angel Shadow), Nathan Lane (Roy Cohn), Amanda Lawrence (The Angel), James McArdle (Louis Ironson), Becky Namgauds (Angel Shadow), Mateo Oxley (Understudy Prior Walter), Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Belize), Russell Tovey (Joseph Pitt), Paksie Vernon (Understudy Harper Pitt), Stan West (Angel Shadow), Lewis Wilkins (Angel Shadow).

Production team:
Director: Marianne Elliott; Set Designer: Ian MacNeil; Costume Designer: Nicky Gillibrand; Lighting Designer: Paule Constable; Choreographer and Movement: Robby Graham; Music: Adrian Sutton; Sound Designer: Ian Dickinson; Puppetry Director and Movement: Finn Caldwell; Puppet Designers: Finn Caldwell and Nick Barnes; Illusions: Chris Fisher; Aerial Director: Gwen Hales; Associate Director: Harry Mackrill; Staff Director: Miranda Cromwell; Fight Director: Kate Waters; Dialect Coach: Hazel Holder; Company Voice Work: Jeanette Nelson and Charmian Hoare; Associate Set Designer: Jim Gaffney

2013 Belvoir

By Tony Kushner
Director Eamon Flack
Set Designer Michael Hankin
Costume Designer Mel Page
Lighting Designer Niklas Pajanti
Associate Lighting Designer Ross Graham
Composer Alan John
Sound Designer Steve Francis
Assistant Director Shelly Lauman
Fight Director Scott Witt
American Dialect Coach Paige Walker-Carlton
Stage Manager Mel Dyer
Assistant Stage Manager Roxzan Bowes
Special thanks to: Reuze Vintage

Paula Arundell
Mitchell Butel
Marcus Graham
Amber McMahon
Luke Mullins
Robyn Nevin
DeObia Oparei
Ashley Zukerman