Winner of 5 Tony Awards!
Assassins
book by John Weidman
music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
directed by Oanh Nguyen
musically directed by Carmen Cortez Dominguez
OCnow.com Pick of the Week
- 01/31/08 ARTICLE: Los Angeles Times
- 02/01/08 ARTICLE: Orange County Register
- 02/02/08 REVIEW: What The Butler Saw
- 02/06/08 REVIEW: The Mooche
- 02/07/08 REVIEW: Back Stage West
- 02/10/08 REVIEW: LA Stage Scene
- 02/13/08 REVIEW: Orange County Register
- 02/13/08 REVIEW: Fullerton Observer
- 02/26/08 COLUMN: Orange County Register
- 02/26/08 ARTICLE: Orange County Register
- 02/27/08 REVIEWS: LA Times Blog
THEATER ARTICLE
'Assassins' at the Chance Theater: A Killer Musical
by Devon Glenn, Los Angeles Times
January 31, 2008
The presidential campaigns are in full swing and the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills is putting on Stephen Sondheim's "Assassins" -- a show about presidential killers.
Of course the Tony Award-winning musical has seen worse timing: Its 2001 Broadway debut was postponed because of 9/11.
"Now is the perfect time to do ['Assassins']," says director Oanh Nguyen. "It's about listening to the voices that no one wants to hear and the dangers of not doing it."
Opens 8 p.m. Sat. Runs 8 p.m. Fri.; 2 and 8 p.m. Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun. $30. (714) 777-3033; www.chancetheater.com
[top]
THEATER ARTICLE
Chance Theater kicks off 10th season this weekend
by Paul Hodgins, Orange County Register
February 1, 2008
The Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills, which has grown steadily in its decade of existence, is now without a doubt the best stage company in north Orange County. Its 10th-anniversary season starts with a bang — lots of them, actually. Stephen Sondheim’s darkly funny masterpiece, “Assassins,” opens this weekend.
Find out more about Chance and “Assassins”
[top]
THEATER REVIEW
"Assassins"
by James Scarborough, What The Butler Saw
February 2, 2008
Oanh Nguyen conceives Stephen Sondheim's Assassins, an unnerving - if we indeed live under the reign of an elected king - musical satire of the American Dream as a bipolar, dyspeptic support group of presidential assassins and would-be assassins. Gape and awe at another iconic projection design by John MacDonald, at Joe Pew's reconfiguration of the stage that it turns the audience seats into jury boxes, and at another superb ensemble effort, especially Dimas Diaz as Samuel Byck, the guy who tried to commandeer a plane into the Nixon White House, David Lamoureux as Leon Czolgosz, who shot McKinley, Allison Appleby as Sarah Jane Moore and Emily Clark as Squeaky Fromme who didn't quite kill Ford but certainly suggest that the goth girl slurping an energy drink next to you at the laundromat may have other, more diabolical plans that evening. This company is operating on all cylinders; this show is not to be missed. (The Chance Theater, 5552 E. La Palma Avenue, Anaheim Hills, 714-777-3033, www.chancetheater.com).
[top]
THEATER REVIEW
'Assassins'
quotes from review by Keith David Dillon, The Mooche
February 6, 2008
"Oanh Nguyen and a superb company of actors, musicians and designers at The Chance Theater make a strong argument for this difficult, yet thought provoking musical."
"This cast is superb. My praises come in no specific order; frankly, each member of this cast is worthy of being singled out."
"'[Music Director Carmen Cortez] Dominguez and the boys put together as fine a sound as two synthesizers and a small drum kit can muster. Joe Pew's set is simple; a long runway splits the audience in half and at both ends of the runway, there's a side-show stage complete with running colored lights. Mr. Pew's elegant set isolates the audience, just as the characters in this play feel isolated. John MacDonald's projections are spectacular."
"Jeff Brewer's lights are terrific; carnival like, unsettling."
"All in all, Assassins at the Chance is an excellent reason to go to the theatre. As I read it, Assassins is a cautionary tale. No one is accused except those deserving of accusation. Yet, Assassins is a reminder of what humanity is capable of when pushed to the breaking point. Oanh Nguyen and the crew at the Chance place these troubled human beings among their audience. By doing so, the point is clearly made. Amidst the unsuspecting walk the assassins of the world. They are who we are."
[top]
THEATER REVIEW
'Assassins'
by Eric Marchese, Back Stage West
February 7, 2008
Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's 1990 musical about the role of presidential assassins in American society is a virtual tabula rasa for any director. Though interpretations may not vary much, presentation and style are wide open.
With set designer Joe Pew, director Oanh Nguyen reconfigures his venue to create two prosceniums, one to the audience's left, one to its right, with two blocks of seats that face each other from across the stage -- an inventive variation of an in-the-round staging. Several slate-colored chairs are situated in the front rows, accessible to the performers to sit in, lean on, or carry on stage. This concept affords Nguyen the sort of flexibility a more conventional staging couldn't yield. On each proscenium are four bull's-eyes that melt into a variety of images, from police/FBI human targets to black-and-white photos that help fix the time and place of a particular assassin or depict a person who has played a key role in the assassin's life (Emma Goldman, Charles Manson, Jodie Foster). With each successful assassination, the lights ringing each proscenium flash wildly, furthering the analogy of a madcap carnival shooting gallery.
Paul Kehler is everything you'd want in a John Wilkes Booth: handsome, charismatic, forceful, and passionate, with a plaintive, mournful voice. This Booth is a masterful thespian, capable of convincing future assassins that eternal infamy is their "prize." David Lamoureux's Leon Czolgosz is unforgettable: a tall, gaunt, bitter immigrant in a tattered coat, with a growling voice and fierce mien. Emily Clark's Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme is wild-eyed and manic, possessed by her worship of Manson. As unhinged crackpot Samuel Byck, Dimas Diaz epitomizes the common man's frustrations with his unresponsive government officials, his drunken rants reflecting his disillusionment. A climax is reached when the Zapruder film is projected onto Lee Harvey Oswald's white T-shirt. Carmen Cortez Dominguez's music direction makes powerful use of this vocally fine cast's multiple voices, and Sondheim's score is well-rendered by Lonn Hayes (percussion) and Robert Hilton and Rick Heckman (keyboards). The nine assassins are single-minded loners with dangerous obsessions in an America that's a land of both light and shadows.
Presented by and at the Chance Theater,
5552 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim.
Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 & 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Feb. 2-Mar. 16.
(714) 777-3033. www.chancetheater.com
[top]
THEATER REVIEW
'Assassins'
quotes from review by Steven Stanley, LA Stage Scene
February 10, 2008
"Despite its potentially gruesome and disturbing subject matter (and it
is at times both gruesome and disturbing), Assassins is often funny and always
involving, besides containing some of the most hummable tunes ever written
by a composer not known for his 'hummability.'"
"Never have [Director Oanh] Nguyen's prodigious directorial talents been more evident than in his brilliant re-imagining of Assassins."
"The cast has been cut from the 16 featured in the 2004 Broadway production down to 9, the Balladeer and the eight Assassins. Gone are the Proprietor and the ensemble of 6, the Balladeer and the Assassins assuming these actors' roles."
"Next is the radical reconfiguration of the Chance stage. The audience sits on opposite sides of what would normally be the left and right walls, with four empty front row seats on either side left empty for the Assassins to sit among the audience at various intervals. ... As we watch the musical unfold, we cannot help looking at each other at the same time as we are looking at the Assassins and seeing in them (and in each other) a capacity for doing the unspeakable."
"In a tour de force performance, Kehler is such a passionate Booth that one cannot help but feel for him and for his certainty that he was absolutely right to kill the President responsible for causing so much loss of life."
"Bob Simpson, dynamic as always in the role of the Balladeer, engages Booth in 'The Ballad of Booth,' accusing him of only wanting attention, and of having inadvertently increased (in today's idiom) Lincoln's approval rating."
"The role of Zangara is brought to intense life by an excellent Jara Jones, so real that it's hard to believe this is an actor and not the genuine article."
"One of the highlights of any production of Assassins is the hilariously kooky conversation between crazy sexy bimbette Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme and dorky Southern housewife Sarah Jane Moore, over a basket of Colonel Sanders' Kentucky Fried Chicken. Here, the scene is played to perfection by Emily Clark and Allison Appleby, who later reveal themselves to be fine singers as well as actress/comediennes."
"Clark returns subsequently to sing one of the most gorgeous (albeit offbeat) love songs in the Sondheim repertoire, 'Unworthy Of Your Love' opposite Daniel Berlin, doing touching work as a sad and pathetic John Hinkley. Gorgeous and passionate acting and singing from both Clark and Berlin."
"Tall, gangly David Lamoureux as Leon Czolgosz is another who totally disappears into his role, demonstrating a beautiful singing voice as well. Richard Comeau does equally fine work as Charles A. Guiteau, whose 'The Ballad of Guiteau' combines Broadway and Negro spiritual, all the while Comeau's eyes reflect the madness of his character."
"Chance Theater regular Dimas Diaz dazzles as the craziest and most talkative Assassin of them all, Samuel Byck, who dressed as Santa Claus goes on and on in an extended, vulgar rant against Leonard Bernstein and Richard Nixon."
"Carmen Cortez Dominguez deserves applause for her musical direction, a fine example of which is 'The Gun Song's exquisite four-part harmony, and the outstanding work done by Robert Hilton and Rick Heckman on keyboards, and Lonn Hayes on percussion."
"Rarely has a set so clearly reflected a collaboration between a director and designer in bringing the former's vision to life. Joe Pew's shooting gallery is outwardly simple. Lightbulbs surround wide doors at either end of the stage, and with TV monitors surrounding the lights. The monitors project John MacDonald's designs with images which illustrate Sondheim's words and serve to set scenes. There are targets, photos of Presidents, a desert highway, and stacks of books representing the Texas School Book Depository where Oswald lay in wait."
"Dave Mickey's sound and Erika C. Miller's costumes are likewise first-rate, and Glenda Morgan Brown deserves credit for coaching the actors in their various regional and foreign accents."
"Those who have never seen a production of Assassins before are in for an exciting discovery at the Chance. Those who've seen other productions, no matter how fine, are in for an even bigger treat. With its innovations and surprises galore, this is the Assassins by which future productions will be measured."
Chance Theatre, 5552 E. La Palma Avenue, Anaheim Hills. Through March 16. Fridays at 8:00, Saturdays at 2:00 and 8:00 Sundays at 2:00. Reservations: (714) 777-3033 or www.chancetheater.com.
[top]
THEATER REVIEW
'Assassins' is one killer of a musical
Review: In Anaheim Hills, a new approach to the 1990 Sondheim show yields an intriguing look
quotes from review by Eric Marchese, Orange County Register
February 13, 2008
"Directorial interpretations of Assassins tend to vary little - that's how specific is the intent of John Weidman's libretto and Stephen Sondheim's lyrics. As for the style and manner in which the 1990 show is presented, well, they're pretty much wide open.
"That's good news for anyone who has enjoyed productions at the Chance Theater over the past decade. CT co-founder Oanh Nguyen and set designer Joe Pew have reconfigured the Anaheim Hills venue so that the audience is split into two blocks which face each other on either side of the stage."
"The technical side, courtesy of Jeff Brewer (lighting), John MacDonald (projections), Dave Mickey (sound) and Erika C. Miller (costumes) would be moot, however, without a solid cast, and Nguyen's company delivers the goods."
"Paul Kehler's Booth is the show's charismatic ringleader, and with his magnificent bearing and mournful voice, the actor is passionate and forceful. He shows us Booth the provocateur, able to convince future assassins they owe it to American history to take a shot at the president of their time and place."
"With his growling voice and fierce demeanor, David Lamoureaux is unforgettable, his Czolgosz a tall, gaunt, bitter immigrant scarred by life and by a grueling, dangerous job in a bottle factory. It's apparent he has nothing to lose in shooting President McKinley point-blank."
"Samuel Byck, who became unhinged and decided to fly a plane into the Nixon White House, is portrayed by Dimas Diaz as sodden in booze and anger and frustration over his government's deaf ear to the plight of the average joe. His ranting, raving tape-recorded missive to composer Leonard Bernstein would be hysterically funny were it not so filled with murderous passion."
"Emily Clark's Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme is wild-eyed and manic, her excitement over Manson's predictions of Armageddon positively orgiastic."
"Musical director Carmen Cortez Dominguez wrings power from each member of Nguyen's cast, which masters Sondheim's tricky rhythms and harmonic shifts. Robert Hilton and Rick Heckman on dual keyboards and Lonn Hayes on percussion do a fine job of rendering the score."
"Kehler softly croons how anyone with a gun can 'change the world.' It's lyrics like this, far more than Sondheim's music, which give Assassins the power to gnaw at our psyche."
"This quality is never more apparent in the song that opens and closes the show: 'Everybody's Got the Right' - the right to be happy, that is, as part of the American dream. In the world of the assassin, that right extends to loners whose self-destruction turns outward."
[top]
THEATER REVIEW
'Assassins'
by Joyce Rosenthal, Fullerton Observer
February 13, 2008
The dictionary defines "assassin" as the murderer who carries out a plot to kill a public official. Assassins, book by John Weidman , music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim tells the tales of nine assassins, the four who succeeded in killing presidents of the United States and five who were unsuccessful. It's a fascinating story thanks to Sondheim's music and clever lyrics and Director Oanh Nguyen presents an interesting version of the story. Several actors play multiple roles and when not performing they sit in the front row among the audience.
The audience sits on both sides of the theater and the action takes place on the stage between them. The set by Joe Pew is simple yet dramatic. There are identical doorways on each end of the stage framed by light bulbs and bull's eye's are painted over each doorway. The effect is reminiscent of a carnival shooting galley. When an assassin is successful, blinking lights go on around the doorways and a buzzer goes off for an unsuccessful attempt.
The unhappy assassins enter separately and are told 1) everybody has the right to be happy and 2) their problems can be solved by killing a President; each one receives a gun. The first assassin, John Wilkes Booth, is presented to the others as their pioneer and the Balladeer begins Booth's story shortly after Abraham Lincoln is assassinated and takes it through Booth's suicide in a barn.
In addition to Booth, the successful assassins include Leon Czolgosz (William McKinley), Charles Guiteau (James Garfield) and Lee Harvey Oswald (John F. Kennedy). The unsuccessful assassins are Guiseppe Zangara (Franklin Delano Roosevelt), Samuel Byck (Richard Nixon), Lynette ("Squeaky") Fromme and Sarah Jane Moore (Gerald Ford) and John Hinkley (Ronald Reagan). With the exception of Lee Harvey Oswald they all take turns telling their stories.
Lee Harvey Oswald appears alone in the Texas School Book Depository preparing to commit suicide. Booth appears and convinces him to murder John F. Kennedy. The other assassins also come forth pleading with him to act because through him, their acts will come alive again.
The most common question is why did these people commit these crimes? The answer may lie in the fact that none of them thought they were worth anything and were trying to get someone's, anyone's attention. None felt that they were sharing in the American Dream.
Bob Simpson portrays the Balladeer ... and is stellar. Other notable performances were by Dimaz Diaz (Samuel Byck), Allison Appleby (Sarah Jane Moore) and Emily Clark (Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme).
Assassins will be at the Chance Theater through March 16, 2008.
[top]
THEATER ARTICLE
Obscure assassins and magical pens
by Frank Mickadeit, Orange County Register
February 26, 2008
Last month, I walked out of Stephen Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd" at the Big Newport. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a singing "demon barber" that night. And I was even less in the mood this weekend for a musical about presidential assassins (actual and would-be), including singing John Hinkleys and Squeaky Frommes. Or so I thought.
But on Sunday, I felt duct-taped to a comfy chair by the Chance Theater's production of Sondheim's "Assassins." And I was O.K. with it.
The occasion was an impromptu fundraiser for Children's Hospital arranged by my CHOC Follies buddy Louis Berlin. He bought the 49-seat house for the matinee and sold the seats back to his Follies castmates. It was also a chance to show off his son, Daniel Berlin, who plays the schlubby, bispectacled loner Hinkley so convincingly, I told the boy later, I would cross the street rather than have to walk near him.
Delights? Highlights? What do you call splendid, gripping moments of stage drama and dark humor when the characters are so repugnant? The art is to bring more than one dimension to the characters. To, and I use this word advisedly, humanize them.
"Assassins" opens at a carnival shooting gallery, where you soon figure out that your friendly barker is John Wilkes Booth. Director Oanh Nguyen opted for a spare cast of nine, each playing an assassin and occasionally doubling in a bit role.
You get the well-known killers. But you also get the ones you kind of remember from history class - such as Garfield's psychopathic murderer, Charles Guiteau - and the ones only "Jeopardy" champs can name, such as Samuel Byck, who tried to kill Nixon by hijacking a plane and crashing it into the White House.
You get intense soliloquies by Byck (Dimas Diaz) and Guiteau (Richard Comeau, who in real life works at AT&T in Anaheim, a few blocks from the theater.) You get creepy moments, like when Hinkley sings a love ballad to Jodie Foster. And moments of hilarity, such as when Gerald Ford's would-be assailant, Sarah Jane Moore (Allison Appleby), confides about her poor shooting skills: "I couldn't hit William Howard Taft if he were sitting on my lap."
All the while, tension builds as you await Lee Harvey Oswald, whose presence, lone among the assassins, isn't immediately evident. The moment when he stands before the audience after shooting J.F.K. is a piece of stagecraft so brilliant, moving and original - yet not technically amazing - that I'm sure I'll remember it as one of my all-time favorite scenes in live theater.
O.K. So you got a mini-review. I'm deeper than just courts, politics and mayhem, ya know. If I can get you to check out "Assassins" before it leaves March 16, I've done you a favor. www.chancetheater.com.
It's also time to be seriously arranging tickets for the CHOC Follies. My role this year is small, but I think you'll find the production the most cohesive in recent years.
It's a musical spoof of Christopher Guest's "Waiting for Guffman," a mockumentery about a local theater troupe that takes itself far too seriously.
I got a taste of it at something called an "underwriters party," which was hosted last week at the perfectly preserved Balboa Peninsula home of Sandy Segerstrom Daniel's late parents, Hal and Jeanette.
I have never fully grasped the concept of fundraisers to raise money for another fundraiser, but there I was, looking at Hal and Jeanette's bookshelves and art, and wishing I'd had a chance to know them.
In the middle of this, Sandy got up, stood in front of a marker board with some donation opportunities written on it, got that serious-Sandy face and told the assemblage she was holding some "magic pens." Magic, she said, because, "in a little while you will be using them to write your names on this board and save children's lives."
The way she said it - so heavy, but perfect. "How many times have you used that line - the 'magic pens,' " I asked her later. She's always raising money for kids.
"I just made it up while I was standing there, thinking of something to say," she said.
I raised my eyebrows.
"What, you don't believe me?"
"Well, keep using it," I said. "It works."
Because money started flying, the magic bringing in $63,000 in a few minutes, including, with one scribble, $25,000 from Stan Hanson and Eve Kornyei.
The Follies are March 13, 14 and 15. Tickets: www.chocfollies.org.
[top]
THEATER ARTICLE
Don't miss your chance to see "Assassins" at the Chance
by Paul Hodgins, Orange County Register
February 26, 2008
Just a reminder that the Chance Theater's terrific production of "Assassins" is still playing through March 15 in Anaheim Hills. I saw it on opening weekend, and director Oanh Nguyen and his creative team have come up with an imaginative scenic concept that's reminiscent of a shooting gallery. Perhaps it's bad karma to stage a musical about Presidential assassins and would-be assassins during an election year, but it's not often you get a chance to see a Sondheim musical produced with this level of quality and attention to detail. The cast is uniformly superb. Register reviewer Eric Marchese agrees with me.
[top]
THEATER REVIEW
Assassins
reviews on LA Times Blog
February 27, 2008
John Lane
Stanton, CA
For Sondheim fans, this is about the finest production of 'Assassins' you'll see. Done by a supremely talented cast in a small (70 seat) venue with 3 musicians (2 keyboardists, 1 drummer). Original staging.
February 10, 2008
Michael M. Landman-Karny
Huntington Beach, CA
This is an exceptionally strong ensemble cast in a fasincating revival of Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece by OC's resident genius director, Oanh Nguyen. By all means this is a production not to be missed.
February 5, 2008
Julie Stern
Long Beach, CA
Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece gets a first-rate staging at the Chance theatre. A superb ensemble of actors-singers brings Sondheim's unique vision of American history to life. One may argue whether it's a critque of celebrity culture, gun culture or the American libertarian ethic, this is one musical that makes you think. Sondheim's astonishing score takes staples of American folk, pop and ceremonial music and turns them inside out. The sly distortions of familiar musical motifs -- whether ''Hail to the Chief'' or a barbershop quartet -- approximate the skewed ways in which these characters hear everyday melodies. Oanh Nguyen, a briliant Vietnamese American director brings an outsider's view to this deranged funhouse. This production is a must-see!
February 3, 2008
Jessie
Los Angeles, CA
This stellar ensemble interpretation of Stephen Sondheim's "Assassins" begs to be experienced. The cast is exceptional and the direction is spot on in this gripping musical which tells the untold tales of some of the most hated figures in American history.
Write your own L.A. Times review about this production.
[top]
