Show guide
Assassins
Assassins gathers history's presidential assassins and would be assassins into a carnival dark musical revue, with a score by Stephen Sondheim that turns a shooting gallery into a mirror of the American dream.
- Broadway premiere
- 2004
- Music by
- Stephen Sondheim
- Genre
- Drama
- Setting
- Timeless
Assassins: quick answers
What is Assassins about?
- Assassins gathers the men and women who killed or tried to kill American presidents, from John Wilkes Booth to John Hinckley Jr., in a carnival shooting gallery where they meet across time and air their grievances with the American dream.
When did Assassins open on Broadway?
- Assassins premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons on December 18, 1990, and reached Broadway on April 22, 2004, at Studio 54 in a Roundabout Theatre Company production. That run played 101 performances and won five Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical.
What kind of musical is Assassins?
- Assassins is a dark, semi-revue concept musical with an original score by Stephen Sondheim and a book by John Weidman. It is not sung-through: it mixes spoken scenes and songs that move freely between historical eras rather than following one linear plot.
Where and when is Assassins set?
- Assassins is set in a timeless carnival shooting gallery, with scenes spanning American history from Lincoln's assassination in 1865 to the 1981 attempt on Ronald Reagan.
Has Assassins played in London's West End?
- Assassins had its London premiere at the Donmar Warehouse on October 29, 1992, and was revived at the Menier Chocolate Factory from November 2014 to March 2015.
The story of Assassins
Assassins unfolds in a timeless carnival shooting gallery where a barker hands guns to men and women from across American history, from John Wilkes Booth to John Hinckley Jr., each of whom killed or tried to kill a sitting president. Book writer John Weidman lets these figures step out of their own eras and speak to one another, building a loose revue rather than a single linear plot.
A folksy narrator called the Balladeer threads the stories together, commenting on the assassins' grievances and delusions. Rather than glorifying violence, the show examines a distorted, uniquely American promise, the idea that anyone can be somebody, and what happens when that promise curdles into resentment and obsession.
The music and the makers
Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics, with John Weidman supplying the book, and the score is built as a pastiche, borrowing the musical language of each assassin's own period, from a nineteenth century cakewalk to a folk ballad to a jaunty sixties pop number. That shifting musical vocabulary lets the show move rapidly between decades while keeping each character grounded in his or her own time.
Signature numbers include Everybody's Got the Right, the show's carnival barker opener, along with The Ballad of Booth and Unworthy of Your Love. The combination of cheerful period pastiche with dark subject matter gives the score a queasy, unsettling energy unlike anything else in Sondheim's catalog.
Assassins on Broadway
Assassins premiered Off Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 1990. A planned Broadway transfer was shelved after the September 11 attacks made the material feel too raw, and the show did not reach Broadway until 2004, when the Roundabout Theatre Company opened it at Studio 54 starring Michael Cerveris as Booth and Neil Patrick Harris as the Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald.
That 2004 production won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical along with several other Tonys. Assassins remains one of Sondheim's most provocative and frequently studied works, staged regularly by regional and school theatres despite, or because of, its unflinching subject matter.
Assassins: frequently asked questions
When did Assassins open on Broadway?
Assassins opened on Broadway in 2004 at Studio 54, in a production by the Roundabout Theatre Company, after an earlier Off Broadway premiere in 1990.
Who wrote Assassins?
Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics, with a book by John Weidman.
What is Assassins about?
It follows a group of historical figures who assassinated or attempted to assassinate American presidents, gathered together in a shooting gallery setting that spans decades.
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