[NEohioPAL] Assassins Review: Christine Howey: Rave and Pan

[Martin Friedman]

Christine Howey  :http://raveandpan.blogspot.com/ 
is an award-winning theater critic, having been named Best Critic in Ohio by 
both the Press Club of Cleveland and the Society of Professional Journalists. 
She has been a theater critic for Cleveland Free Times, Cleveland Scene, and 
City Pages in Minneapolis, MN. Christine also acted and directed locally, 
primarily at Dobama Theatre, from 1969-1985. Monday, February 7, 2011
Assassins, Lakeland Civic Theatre 
 
In the history of slogans, the U.S. Army’s misbegotten “Army of One” tagline 
never really caught on, at least with the military. But it was quickly co-opted 
by domestic terrorists after Timothy McVeigh set off his truck bomb in Oklahoma 
City. Echoing that thought, presidential assassins seek to be an “Electoral 
Majority of One” when they take down our country’s leaders.
In the mordant musical Assassins, now at the Lakeland Civic Theater, Stephen 
Sondheim (music and lyrics) and John Weidman (book) attempt to dissect the 
mentality and cultural significance of nine very different historical lunatics. 
Even though the material itself is flawed in multiple ways, this production 
directed by Martin Friedman makes it all work remarkably well, with several 
spot-on performances.
Friedman and scenic designer Trad A Burns decide to eschew the original carnival 
shooting gallery setting, opting instead for a wide concrete stairway that 
evokes the U.S. Capitol building. This monolith of gray seem initially 
oppressive and limiting, but as it turns out it allows Friedman to move his 
players vertically as well as horizontally, giving the production a unique 
visual style.
The play itself is a jumble of scenes, some spoken and some sung, that jump back 
and forth in time as we encounter famous killers (John Wilkes Booth and Lee 
Harvey Oswald) and wannabes (John Hinckley, Sara Jane Moore, Lynette “Squeaky” 
Fromme, Guiseppe Zangara, and Samuel Byck). Less well known assassins include 
Charles Guiteau (he killed James A. Garfield) and Leon Czolgosz (he offed 
William McKinley).
However, without any serviceable dramatic through line, the script continually 
has to re-start itself with each scene, and that becomes tedious. But thanks to 
some deft acting work, the whole 90-minute one-act hangs together surprisingly 
well. 

After an ironically up-tempo opening song “Everybody Has a Right (to Be Happy),” 
the lineup starts appropriately enough with assassin #1, John Wilkes Booth. 
Scott Esposito brings an appropriate veneer of arrogance to his character, and 
he sings well in “The Ballad of Booth.”
After that, the leapfrogging begins and it’s hard to find any rhyme or reason 
why the scenes are arranged as they are. Still, Neely Gevaart and Amiee Collier 
(would-be Gerald Ford assassins)combine to fashion an amusing pas de deux in 
their scene, with Collier finding just the right mix of middle class blandness 
and bone-deep psychosis. As Guiteau, Kevin Joseph Kelly is nicely controlled as 
he manages to trigger laughs without losing his character’s troubled essence.
Kevin Becker is properly spooky as the loner Hinckley while Trey Gilpin as 
Zangara and Brian Altman as Czolgosz have a couple incisive moments. But the 
most affecting performance is turned in by Brint Learned as Byck (this wacko 
dreamed of flying a 747 into Nixon’s White House). Dressed in a homeless man’s 
Santa suit, Learned crafts a clearly deranged loser who is still close enough to 
reality to send a chill up anyone’s spine. 

JFK’s assassination concludes the play, as Oswald (a fairly non-descript Curt 
Arnold) is talked into shooting the Prez by the entire rogues’ gallery. This is 
the one scene where Friedman doesn’t use the stairs to the script’s advantage, 
as Oswald moves all over the staircase instead of inexorably towards his deadly 
perch. Thus, the tension that should build towards this final act of insanity is 
dissipated.
The authors try to tie this all together with a balladeer, a thankless role 
handled by Aaron Elersich with as much élan as he can summon. Also an 
afterthought, in this staging, is the Proprietor (James J. Jarrell). Since there 
is no shooting gallery to be the proprietor of, he is relegated to peddling his 
guns out of a suitcase.
As uneven as the script is, Friedman and his actors create a substantial evening 
of theater. One that rings with particular poignance given the recent tragedy in 
Tucson, Arizona.
Assassins
Through February 20, produced by the Lakeland Community College Arts and 
Humanities Division, at the Lakeland Civic Theatre, 7700 Clocktower Drive, 
Kirtland, 440-525-7526


 
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