Signature Theatre: "Assassins"

What an amazing production.  I know this was "Assassins" and not "Passion," yet I have rarely seen such passionate performances!  While the main cast was composed of DMV allstars, even the chorus was to a person, leading actor deep.  To everyone's credit and certainly the director's (Eric Schaeffer) the ensemble functioned with such precision and harmony as they wove their stories together from full-cast moments to trios and duets to solos.  Because I am going to speak directly to specific performances and the chemistry of particular ensembles is not to suggest in the least that there were any weak ones.

Of the nine Assassins featured -- the premise involves all of the major assassins and attempted assassins of United States Presidents -- the single most amazing performance was that of Christopher Bloch as Samuel Byck the wannabe assassin of Richard Nixon that you've never heard of (I hadn't).  Byck was a man whose life was shitty and when the Small Business Administration denied his application for a loan he fixated on killing Nixon.  Get this, he planned to hijack a commercial airliner and fly it into the White House.  In the production he is dressed in a shabby Santa Claus suit as a symbol of the type of work he was force to accept.  A brilliant actor brought a brilliantly written script to life with both gusto and nuance.  I certainly feel this performance is Helen Hayes Award worthy.

Ian McEuen delivered the next outstanding performance as Giuseppe Zangara a disgruntled immigrant who literally took a shot at FDR in Miami and got the Electric Chair for his failed efforts.  The number performed by Ian and the Chorus entitled "How I Saved Roosevelt" ends with his demise in the electric chair, and dare I say it--how can I resist?--it was absolutely electrifying.

Vincent Kempski as John Wilkes Booth gave the third noteworthy solo performance.  His talents as an actor really came through during the scene toward the end of the musical where he leads the other killers in a group intervention on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository aimed at convincing Lee Harvey Oswald to fulfill his destiny.

The majority of the comedy (yes, there are laugh out loud moments in this absurdist, and, I now believe, brilliant musical) was so skillfully handled in the ensemble moments between Rachel Zampelli as Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme and Tracy Lynn Olivera as Sara Jane Moore.  The pothead outcaste and the bumbling, profane housewife become the embodiment of the classic comedy duo whether sharing a joint on park bench, using a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken for target practice, or dealing with Moore's insipidly brattish little boy.

The final shout out goes to the Chorus/Ensemble in their collective moments.  Jimmy Mavrikes, Christopher Mueller, Nova Y. Payton, Christopher Michael Richardson, and Maria Rizzo were seamless in their navigation of those famously tight group numbers for which Sondheim is so infamous.  Anyone of these amazing actors can and have led productions in their own right.

This is the first time in all the many productions I have attended at Signature Theatre where the space was configured like a traditional stage.  The background is made of a floor to ceiling wood slate wall in a decrepit state with a war torn and dilapidated facsimile of the Presidential box from the Ford's Theatre on the right side of the stage.  The imagery seems obvious and the design simplistic; however, when combines with the effects of breathtaking lighting design and thoughtful special effects, the results were stunning.   I predict at least three Helen Hayes nominations:

1) Featured Actor in a musical for Christopher Bloch
2) Outstanding Ensemble musical for the cast as a whole
3) Outstanding Lighting for a musical

Left to Right: Even Casey (John Hinckley), Rachel Zampelli (Lynette "Squeaky Fromme), Bobby Smith (Charles Guiteau), Tracy Lynn Olivera (Sarah Jane Moore), Vincent Kempski (John Wilkes Booth), Lawrence Redmond (Leon Czolgosz), Ian McEuen (Giuseppe Zangara), Sam Ludwig (Lee Harvey Oswald, and Christopher Bloch (Samuel Byck).