REVOLUTION STAGE COMPANY

Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Tony Award-winning musical Assassins takes audiences on a disturbing yet fascinating journey through the twisted underbelly of the American psyche. This groundbreaking work blends historical fact with theatrical invention to create a provocative revue-style examination of the men and women who attempted - and in some cases succeeded - to assassinate U.S. presidents.

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From John Wilkes Booth's fateful shot at Ford's Theatre to John Hinckley Jr.'s obsessive attempt on Ronald Reagan's life, the musical constructs a surreal carnival-like atmosphere where these disparate historical figures exist outside of time, meeting and interacting in ways that reveal startling connections. The show's unconventional structure allows Lee Harvey Oswald to receive counsel from Charles Guiteau (Garfield's assassin), while Sara Jane Moore (Ford's would-be assassin) compares notes with Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme in a bizarre sisterhood of disillusionment.

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Sondheim's brilliant score masterfully adapts period-appropriate musical styles - from folk ballads to Sousa marches, 1970s soft rock to 1940s radio jingles - giving each assassin their own distinctive musical voice. The haunting "Everybody's Got the Right" serves as the show's unsettling thesis, suggesting that even the most deranged killers saw themselves as protagonists in their own American dreams. Meanwhile, numbers like "The Ballad of Booth" and "Unworthy of Your Love" provide disturbing psychological insight into the killers' motivations, ranging from political ideology to twisted romantic obsession.

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More than just a gallery of historical villains, Assassins forces us to confront uncomfortable questions about fame, failure, and the promises of the American experiment. The show's most controversial sequence - the "Book Depository" scene where Oswald is persuaded to shoot JFK - remains one of the most daring moments in musical theater history, blurring the line between historical reenactment and moral provocation.

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First produced Off-Broadway in 1990 and winning the Tony for Best Revival in 2004, Assassins continues to shock and challenge audiences with its bold confrontation of American myths. This is musical theater that refuses to provide easy answers, instead holding up a funhouse mirror to our national consciousness - one where the outcasts and losers demand to have their stories told, no matter how uncomfortable their truths may be.