| A disturbing version for today (spoilers) | |
| Posted by: mikem 11:53 pm EDT 10/04/23 | |
| In reply to: TB REGIONAL REVIEW: "ASSASSINS" in PHILADELPHIA - T.B._Admin. 08:31 pm EDT 10/04/23 | |
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| I just saw this production. I had seen the show once before over a decade ago, at the same theater with the same director (with two of the actors playing the same roles as they are playing now). The show hit very differently this time around. In the current staging, the songs are generally presented very simply, so there is much more emphasis on the dialogue than would be typical in a Sondheim musical. And it started to feel like almost two hours of listening to delusional, self-oriented, not-very-deep-thinking people with guns going on and on and on about how they are misunderstood and how the world has mistreated them. In short, it felt like listening to stereotypical Trump supporters for almost two hours. (Not saying all Trump supporters are like this, but this is a stereotype of what some of them are like.) The director underlined the analogy by showing footage of the Jan 6 Capitol riot as the backdrop for "Another National Anthem." After "Another National Anthem," the show seemed to shift a little bit towards a more traditional staging. Overall, the cast is really excellent. The only characters that are sympathetic in the least in this staging, though, are John Hinckley (played by Harrison Smith, who is outstanding) and Squeaky Fromme (played by Katherine Fried), so it was a lot of time to spend with characters that I don't really want to spend time with. I'm curious if others have seen recent stagings of Assassins and if the Trump supporter analogy is there. Some of it seems a bit inherent to the prescient material, although some of it is emphasized by this staging. (For example, the characters aren't really listening to each other and show very little interest in the people around them. They're very focused on themselves and their own personal grievances.) One question: Something Just Broke was performed, but not actually listed in the program. The final musical sequence was listed as "Finale: Everybody's Got the Right." Is Something Just Broke usually listed? |
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| Previous: | TB REGIONAL REVIEW: "ASSASSINS" in PHILADELPHIA - T.B._Admin. 08:31 pm EDT 10/04/23 |
| Next: | re: A disturbing version for today (spoilers) - sf 11:28 am EDT 10/07/23 |
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