There's an overwhelming sense of dread, fear and shock as you sit watching Mad Cow Theatre's intoxicating revival of the Stephen Sondheim/James Weidman contemporary classic Assassins. Although you mostly know the outcome of the events surrounding the nine individuals who attempted to or succeeded in killing the president of the United States, you can't help but get wrapped up in the drama. Sure, there's humor within the many vignettes that Sondheim and Weidman have concocted—and many laugh out loud moments—but all of that seems to take a backseat in this absorbing staging of a difficult musical.

Director Alan Bruun doesn't ask the audience to like the assassins. He doesn't justify their actions, and he certainly doesn't apologize for them. What he does do is present a cornucopia of American citizens who, for one reason or another, were compelled to remove the person sitting in the most powerful seat in the world. All of this seems pretty obvious within the text of the script itself, but what Bruun does masterfully that many have failed to do in the past is to keep the assassins human. Gone are any over-the-top strokes of comedy, and gone are the overwhelming musical theatre "types" that tend to overpower the material itself. He has cast an ensemble of gifted individuals who inhabit the roles they are playing—never forcing the material, and always playing it for honesty and realism rather than musical theatre fantasy.

Perhaps that is why that sense of dread fear, and shock live within you throughout this production, and the chills continue to poke through your skin hours later. It's also because of the outstanding cast—no weak links, but many better than others. Eddy Coppens gets the least showy role (unless you count singing into the stratosphere during "How I Saved Roosevelt") as Giuseppe Zangara, the immigrant who attempted to kill F.D.R., but he makes an impression in his strong singing and reserved demeanor. Jay T. Becker broods and suffers inner struggle as Leon Czolgosz, the anarchist who killed William McKinley, and provides some of the most honest moments in an almost love scene with Jamie Middleton (whose work as Hannah Jarvis in Mad Cow's Arcadia remains one of the best performances in recent memory). Both Meggin Weaver and Adam Galarza are too attractive to be entirely convincing as Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme (an attempted Gerald Ford assassin) and John Hinckley (who shot Ronald Reagan in the chest), but their sophisticated performances with layers of dramatic understanding and truth make them perfectly credible and wonderful.

Of the remaining assassins, there are three who make the strongest impression throughout: Kurt von Schmittou's eviscerating Sam Byck (who planned to hijack a 747 to kill Richard Nixon), Kate O'Neal's hilarious Sara Jane Moore (another would-be Ford killer), and Kevin Kelly's sensational John Wilkes Booth (who started it all with an assassination of Abraham Lincoln). Schmittou's fearless portrayal includes two wonderful monologues that the actor chews up and spits out as literally and figuratively he does the food he chows on while performing them. He also leads the cast in the chilling "Another National Anthem", which leaves an audience on the edge of their seats all the while desperately wanting to hide underneath them as this group of assassins begs for their prize in the eyes of every audience member in the intimate confines of Mad Cow's Stage Left space. O'Neal is a rubber-faced comedienne with a terrific voice who, along with Weaver's Fromme, gets most of the best lines. But Kevin Kelly keeps everything on target, so to speak. He adds the tremendous weight and moody sophistication that makes his John Wilkes Booth the clear leader of this crazy club. A beautiful voice, dark comic bite, and wonderful presence make his Booth a standout in an ensemble of standouts.

Of course these great performances would hardly be possible without the incredible work of Mr. Bruun. He has made strong artistic choices while keeping the staging simple, appropriate and transparent. While "Something Just Broke" will never fully work for yours truly (it lets the audience off the hook), Bruun's use of the number as a bookend is perhaps the closest it has ever come to working. He has also avoided spectacle, which is most evident in his spare set and Allen Overlander's mood-setting lighting—with appropriate shadows adding to the intensity. Robin Jensen's musical direction is professional and pleasing, both in the voices on stage and the three-instrument combo headed up by herself, Steve MacKinnon (at the performance attended) and Carl Rendek.

Assassins is a provocative work of art, and while it may be impossible to truly understand the reasoning behind anyone who would attempt such an awful crime, the emotional wallop that Mad Cow's production provides at least gives these people a chance to be heard—proving that even the most monstrous of people are just as human as you and I. And that's just as terrifying.

Assassins runs through July 6th, 2008, in the Stage Left space at Mad Cow Theatre in Orlando. For ticket information, visit www.madcowtheatre.com.

Cast:

Bystanders - Rod Cathey, Jamie Middleton, Krista Pigott, Mark Edward Smith, Kevin Zepf
Leon Czolgosz - Jay T. Becker
John Hinckley - Adam Galarza
Charles Guiteau - Jonathan Lang
Giuseppe Zangara - Eddy Coppens
Samuel Byck - Kurt von Schmittou*
Sara Jane Moore - Kate O'Neal
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme - Meggin Weaver
John Wilkes Booth - Kevin Kelly
Balladeer - Jacob Haines*
Lee Harvey Oswald - Jesse LeNoir

* Courtesy of Actors' Equity Association

- Matthew MacDermid