Columbus Freepress - November 7th 2013 Nov 7 2013 | Page 27

Musical targets those who
prefer bullets to ballots
By Richard Ades

You always

remember where
you were the first
time you saw
Assassins.
I was in the Riffe Center’s Studio One,
which looked a lot different than it does
today. For his 1993 Players Theatre
production, director Steven Anderson forced
viewers to stare at each other from either
side of the central stage. The idea was to
underline the fact that the Stephen Sondheim
musical is about us—Americans—and our
violent history.
It was a brilliant concept, but a look at
the viewers across the way suggested that
many of them didn’t know what to make of
this provocative and darkly comic history
lesson. And some (myself included) had
trouble with its surreal “explanation” of
President Kennedy’s assassination, a crime
that remained controversial 30 years after
the fact.
So now it’s 50 years after JFK’s death,
and his murder has largely been replaced by
9/11 as the most shocking event of modern

created, which is more traditional than
its predecessor but just as polished.
Holding it together are two awesome
central performances.
Ian Short is at first passionate as
pioneer assassin John Wilkes Booth,
then dangerously seductive as his
spirit, who coaxes malcontents to
follow in his bloody footsteps. When
Presidential murderers (from left) Charles Guiteau
(Scott Wilson), Leon Czolgosz (Jay Rittberger) and John Giuseppe Zangara (Drew Eberly)
Wilkes Booth (Ian Short) raise their voices and weapons complains that nothing can cure his
in Assassins (photo by Dan Welsh)
chronic stomach ache, Booth asks
history. In fact, political assassinations have coyly, “Have you considering shooting
Franklin Roosevelt?”
generally given way to terrorism and mass
In the other pivotal role, Nick Lingnofski
shootings as the major sources of national
puts his fine voice to good use as the
paranoia.
narrator-like Balladeer, then morphs into a
It’s in this atmosphere that Red Herring
surprisingly hesitant Lee Harvey Oswald for
Productions brings the Sondheim musical
back to Studio One. The change is a double- the controversial finale.
Some would-be assassins serve as
edged sword: It makes the musical seem
welcome comic relief. The broadest
less relevant, but it may give us enough
laughs are provided by Charles Manson
emotional distance to finally appreciate its
follower Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (Kate
artistry and audacity.
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