Arts & Entertainment
'Assassins The Musical' by The Warner Stage Company - My Review
A stellar cast and a dark story combine to make this an entertaining and thought-provoking production at the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre.
Photos by Mandi Martini ©The Warner Theatre 2015
‘Assassins The Musical’ opened on Saturday at the Warner Theatre’s second stage, The Nancy Marine Studio Theatre. If you haven’t been there since ‘American Idiot,’ I will advise you that the theatre has been flipped back to its original arrangement of the stage being along the shorter end of the rectangular space. The amazing carnival midway set for this dark musical designed by Jameson H. Willey fills that stage and extends over the audience and effectively draws them in.
Some Warner patrons may be scared away from this piece by the title alone and others won’t be able to get past the music and lyrics being written by Stephen Sondheim. There is also the warning that the show contains “adult content and strong language and may not be suitable for all ages.” We were warned that there would be gunshots at the onset and the f-word was dropped repeatedly. It is the story of nine infamous individuals who assassinated or attempted to assassinate the President of the United States. The Broadway production was postponed because of the events of Sept. 11, 2001 and this rarely-produced show has been called the most controversial musical ever written. I still loved it.
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Naugatuck native Ian Diedrich gave an amazing performance as John Wilkes Booth. The very talented Mr. Diedrich was perfectly cast in this important role that required outstanding singing and acting. Noel Roberge also sang extremely well as the Balladeer and came back at the end of the show as Lee Harvey Oswald. Neil Patrick Harris originated this role on Broadway.
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This reviewer was grateful to be able to attend the opening of this seldom-produced musical thanks to an especially helpful box office worker at the Warner. It was a pleasure to see many family members of this stellar cast and other familiar faces in the packed audience for opening night. Although I may not be humming the soundtrack anytime soon, I appreciated the uniqueness of this Sondheim piece. ‘Assassins’ runs through October 4, 2015 at the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre down the street from the Warner mainstage.
