By Bart Greenberg**** One of the thrills of theatre-going in New York City is discovering the most wonderful productions in the most unlikely places. Who would have expected to find at The Founders Hall Theater (basically a comfortable auditorium) at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, a very fine production of the very challenging musical Assassins. It’s one of the most audacious works in Stephen Sondheim’s canon
, with a brilliant book by John Weidman (in fact, it may have one of the highest book-to-music ratios among Sondheim’s entire body of work). Assassins explores one of the songwriter’s favorite themes, the corruption of the American dream.
Theater 2020 offers up this show with clarity and creativity. It is unquestionably a bare-bones production, with no scenery and offering up only basic costuming. The music is provided by a sole piano, under the sure hands of Music Director Brandon Adams. Somehow, this minimalism enhances the material, putting the focus on the intensity of the scenes and on the extraordinary singing by the entire cast. The lack of microphones also adds to the intimate experience of this presentation.
Director David Fuller, who doubles as the Proprietor of the Shooting Gallery and several other characters, keeps the show moving, while emphasizing the desperation and insanity of the characters, without ever mocking or satirizing them.
One unusual touch is that the Balladeer, typically a male role, is played by the rich-voiced Amber Dewey, who slides easily from the slightly cynical narrator to a passionate Emma Goldman to a lost Lee Harvey Oswald. It is a true testament to her talent that gender and age never seems to limit her characterizations.
Josh Powell, as the first among equals of assassins, John Wilkes Booth, ca
ptures the egotism and bravado of the actor, with something much darker lurking below the surface. Danny Wilfred brings a fine madness and abundant energy to the religious charlatan Charles Guiteau (and gets to show off some of the finest choreography of Judith Jarosz). Robert Farruggia brings an aching vulnerability and a gorgeous tenor to the role of Giuseppe Zangara.
As the loopy Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, Jana Bernard finds the lost little girl beneath her nasty surface, while her companion Christian Doyle, as John Hinckley Jr., finds a disturbing stillness in his obsessions. David Arthur Bachrach (Samuel Byck), Elizabeth Kensek (Sara Jane Moore) and Evan Maltby (Leona Czolgosz) contribute to the community of killers.
Throughout, the vocal ability of the cast is constantly stunning. When they reach the powerful “Something Just Broke,” they are arrayed through the audience with half of them having their backs to Music Director Adams—and yet, the harmonies are perfection and the complicated lyrics are delivered flawlessly. This staging is a stunning achievement that caps an emotional evening of theatre.
Tickets for the Theater 2020 production of Assassins can be purchased via brownpapertickets.com. There are two more performances: Saturday, March 24 at 8:00 pm and Sunday, March 25 at 4:00 pm. St. Francis College is located at 182 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, NY.
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