In a world seemingly forever given to violence, it is not surprising that the theater has repeatedly undertaken to explore this fact of life...and death. One result was the musical Assassins, first mounted on stage in a small off-Broadway venue late in 1990. The work focuses on U.S. Presidents. Of those who have to date held the office, fifteen have been the object of assassination attempts, four of which have proven successful. This musical deals with nine of the malefactors, extending from Abraham Lincoln in 1865 to Ronald Reagan in 1981.
For the Newton Players production, Chad Flahive has come up with imaginative set designs. Upstage offers part of a huge American flag. A fairground shooting gallery sports a circular target in the form of a U.S. seal rimmed with lights. There are three Ionic columns, each endowed with a pair of translucent presidential names -- FDR, Ford, McKinley, Garfield, Lincoln, Nixon -- which are lit from within at the appropriate times. Other props are brought on as needed, such as an electric chair for the execution of Zangara and a gallows noose for the hanging of Guiteau. In the climactic scene where the ghost of John Wilkes Booth returns to persuade a reluctant Lee Harvey Oswald to shoot President Kennedy, there are large storage boxes bearing assorted lettering: Texas School Book, Grassy Knoll, Jack Ruby, Klein's Sporting Goods.
Director Mark Usher has assembled an admirable cast of seventeen, some of whom have multiple roles as fairgoers, bystanders and citizens. Stephen G. Lee, in a Santa Claus outfit, is a really insane Samuel Byck, while Kristin Shoop and Janet Ferreri are bizarrely unhinged as Squeaky Fromme and Sara Jane Moore. Especially outstanding are David Carney as John Hinckley, obsessed with a photo of movie actress Jodie Foster as Reagan's visage is projected on the rear wall; and rich-voiced David DaCosta as the mustachioed and intense Booth. A word, too, for Ben Perelmuter as the little boy Billy, who near the end ominously picks up a rifle. What does the future hold?
Under Don Boroson's musical direction, an unseen combo of keyboard synthesizers, trumpet and percussion provides perfectly adequate instrumental support. This show is a powerful achievement as the troupe heads into its 50th-anniversary season.
