Assassins (1991 Original Off-Broadway Cast)
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Music CD Cover
Edition: Music CDFormat: Cast Recording
CD Release Date: 1991-08-13
Music Label: RCA Victor Broadway
Soundtracks:
- Everybody's Got The Right
- The Ballad Of Booth
- How I Saved Roosevelt
- Gun Song/The Ballad Of Czolgosz
- Unworthy Of Your Love
- Ballad Of Guiteau
- Another National Anthem
- November 22, 1963
- Final Sequence: 'You Can Close The New York Stock Exchange.' Everybody's Got The Right
Free Music Notes for Assassins (1991 Original Off-Broadway Cast)
Free Music Review: Proof that Sondheim Knows His Melodies
Hit: 5 Stars
When my then-girlfriend (now wife) first played me "Assassins: a little over a decade ago, I really didn't know much about Sondheim. This is the one that really made me a convert. Beyond the intriguing concept, I happen to think it's a great score with possibly the most tuneful bunch of songs Sondheim has ever assembled.
In fact, it puzzles me to no end that the notion persists that Sondheim's work is not melodic. I defy anyone to listen objectively to songs like "The Ballad of Czolgosz", "Unworthy of Your Love" or "Another National Anthem" and tell me that with a straight face. These songs are terrific and tuneful, both fascinating and funny.
I should also say that, the performers in this recording are fantastic and good as the 2004 revival recording is, they give this one the edge. Victor Garber may have gone on to bigger things on TV, but he's an amazing John Wilkes Booth as evidenced not only by his singing but also the dialog scenes included on this recording. Also worthy of singling out, Patrick Cassidy (song of Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy) is terrific as the balladeer that both comments on the action and helps weave the stories together.
But again, the key here is the songs. Ironically, this show may have the darkest subject matter of any Sondheim show except "Sweeney Todd", but the jauntiness of the score will have you humming along as the destiny of our country unfolds in song.
Assassins (1991 Original Off-Broadway Cast) Poster
Leave it to Stephen Sondheim to make things difficult for himself. After writing his most accessible mature musical, Into the Woods, in 1987, he collaborated with author John Weidman on an extremely disturbing topic: Assassins, which depicts the various people who tried--with or without success--to kill a United States president. The characters, ranging from John Wilkes Booth to John Hinckley Jr., all express different motivations--love, fame, freedom from tyranny, stomach pain--but are united in their frustration with the idea of the American dream and believe that killing a president is the only way to achieve it. The songs the assassins sing cover a similarly wide range of Americana, including numbers in the style of Stephen Foster and Sousa, and as is common with Sondheim's music, many of the songs could pass for enjoyable casual listening out of context. (Best example: the lovely ballad "Unworthy of Your Love" could have been a hit for the Carpenters, but it's sung by Hinckley to Jodie Foster and by Lynne "Squeaky" Fromme to Charles Manson.) Careful attention, however, reveals a work of penetrating power. In addition to the musical numbers, this original cast recording includes an 11-minute nonmusical scene in which the older assassins confront and goad Lee Harvey Oswald in the Texas School Book Depository as JFK's car approaches. Not surprisingly, the original 1991 production of Assassins ran only 73 performances and the show didn't make it to Broadway until 2004. The booklet includes production photos and full lyrics. --David HoriuchiBroadway & Vocalists Music CDs
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