Assassins - Review

Festival Theatre, Chichester

*****

Music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by John Weidman

Directed by Polly Findlay

Danny Mac

Only on for a ridiculously short two-week run, Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins is a beautifully engineered weapon, which in the hands of Polly Findlay and her company of marksmen delivers a rifle-shot straight to the heart of American culture and politics. An all-American treat, Assassins is as scathing of American hypocrisies as Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd is of the corrupt British elite.

A wickedly satirical look at the individuals who, throughout history, have taken a (sometimes fatal) shot at their President, Sondheim’s depiction of these assassins / would-be assassins is as brutal as their own intentions, with all featuring on the spectrum of social inadequacy. The show’s genius however lies in the bravado of Sondheim’s lyrical wit that,  applied to John Weidman’s book and under Findlay’s direction of a stellar cast, delivers some of the finest performances in musical theatre to be found this year.

The audience in Chichester’s Festival Theatre are pumped before the show even begins. Lizzie Clachan’s designs see the Festival’s thrust stage transformed into a TV studio cum Oval Office, with patriotic American drapes festooning the auditorium. Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ plays as the popcorn-bearing (yes, Chichester are selling popcorn for this one) throng take their seats. And in what must surely be another first for this august theatrical venue, mise-en-scene cheerleaders whip the crowd into frenzied Mexican waves anticipating kick-off.  Big screens countdown the seconds before Peter Forbes as The Proprietor takes the stage, getting proceedings underway with Everybody’s Got The Right. 

Forbes is magnificently Trumpian in his style – and while his take on the role is a masterful trompe l’oeil, it shows a partisan interpretation from Findlay that skews Sondheim’s otherwise unbiased critique of the American machine. Trump may well be a great visual in terms of razzamatazz and bombast – but Findlay’s omission of any suggested reference to the current senile and absent-minded White House incumbent, that may have offered some balance, belies her personal politics.

A scene from Assassins

Danny Mac heads the list of the show’s gunmen and women, playing Abraham Lincoln’s killer John Wilkes Booth. Mac’s take on the role is assured and defined, taking Sondheim’s wry interpretation of his character and giving it a fabulously nuanced interpretation. Booth’s interaction with Lee Harvey Oswald (Samuel Thomas) in the Texas School Book Depository, telling the nervous, hesitant and self-doubting Oswald that by shooting JFK his place in history will be assured is a dramatic masterpiece. The exchanges between these two in the number November 22nd 1963 demands flawless performance skills and with fine ensemble work in support, the song lands with pinpoint accuracy.

Carly Mercedes Dyer again shows her excellence as Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme an acolyte of Charles Manson with a plan to shoot Gerald Ford. Everything that Dyer does is outstanding and it can only be a matter of time before she is cast to headline a major musical. Nick Holder chills as Samuel Byck, the wannabe loser who believes his problems will be solved by assassinating Richard Nixon. Byck is offered no solo songs, just monologues, with Holder nailing the complex role. Jack Shalloo is equally strong as John Hinckley, the Jodie Foster-obsessed loser, out to shoot Ronald Reagan.

Sondheim’s score is another beauty. Jo Cichonska conducts her band, all finely decked out in Americana and seated in a circular pit that lines the front of the stage, with a stylish aplomb. Their take on these inspired melodies is unlikely to be bettered.

This glorious production merits a transfer to a London stage. Whether there is a mainstream British appetite for such a deeply cynical view of the USA is, of course, a different matter.

Until then, head to Chichester – for outstanding musical theatre, Assassins is unmissable.

Runs until 24th June

Photo credit: Johan Persson

West End Recast

Duke Of York's Theatre, London

*****
Directed by Adam Lenson

Every now and then the planets align and an occasion of breathtaking excellence is created. So it was at the Duke Of York’s Theatre, where Adam Lenson's revue West End Recast was staged for one night only. An ingenious conceit - invite the best of West End talent to sing numbers that for reasons of age, race, gender, physique, whatever, they would be unlikely to perform in a regular commercial casting. Though this review features only a few of the sixteen performers, without exception all were outstanding, with turns ranging from comic brilliance to spine tingling magnificence.

Emma Williams got proceedings underway as a Diana Ross inspired Billy Elliott singing Electricity and as she warmed the crowd up so followed the incredibly voiced Jon Robyns with I Cain't Say No from Oklahoma!. Robyn’s be-suited straight-faced take on Ado Annie was to prove the first pastiche highspot of the night. Other first half gems included Gareth Snook's sublime interpretation of Sally Bowles' Cabaret. Bowler hatted and with spread legs suggesting a nod to Fosse (notwithstanding a bulging crotch) his red-stockinged chanteuse was a blast. Martin Callaghan was listed to sing A Chorus Line's Dance Ten Looks Three, but actually opened his routine with I Hope I Get It from the same show, making a witty if ironic and poignant reference to his own need for a job in the light of Stephen Ward's untimely closure. Simon Bailey's rarely heard Make Them Hear You from Ragtime proved the most stirring moment of the half, as he powerfully brought home the message of the song's plea for liberty, given a distinct twist sung by a white man. Closing the act, Nick Holder sung Defying Gravity in an arrangement that was both soulful and outrageous. Written by Schwartz to be sung by an adolescent student girl, to hear the modern classic performed by a beautifully voiced but nonetheless portly and grey-haired man, summed up the quirky brilliance of the show.

Frances Ruffelle opened act two with Wilkommen from Cabaret as the show’s gartered, gamine, Emcee. Fresh from her Paris focussed cabaret set, Ruffelle's accent was perhaps a tad more French than German, however her neatly choreographed take on Two Ladies, accompanied by the gender-reversed Snook and Callaghan was a hoot. Laura Pitt-Pulford was then to give what must surely be the most re-imagined Tevye ever. Her take on If I Was A Rich Man displayed her beautiful voice having an almost klezmeresque authenticity whilst her performance suggested a Jewish Princess with movement that simply sizzled. Michael Matus defined the coruscating bitterness behind Joanne's The Ladies Who Lunch from Company in a performance that was powerful and at the same time wryly tragic.

Bailey returned as Disney's Ariel with a hilarious Part Of Your World, but it was with Tracie Bennett's Ol' Man River, a song claimed originally, classically and above all, appropriately by Paul Robeson, that for the first time amongst the audience, jaws dropped. Bennett's take on the Showboat classic was so moving and inspirational that it almost prompts a recasting of the show, with the diva playing Joe the muscle bound dock worker.

It was left to Cynthia Erivo to close the set and where Bennett had dropped jaws, Erivo nailed them to the floor. Taking two songs from Streisand's Funny Girl she opened with a masterfully understated People, before segueing seamlessly into Don't Rain On My Parade. No wonder Simon Cowell has cast this actress to lead his Palladium show - her X-Factor was off the scale as her petite frame produced a sound that filled the Duke Of York's with a performance of clarity, expression and sheer beautiful power.

An ensemble encore of When I Grow Up was a neat touch that sweetly rounded off the evening. With Daniel A. Weiss’ 5 piece band, Adam Lenson has created an event of magical potential. The show demands to be repeated, it is simply the very best of London's talent.