Porchlight's Assassins is a Surefire Hit

The darkly comic Stephen Sondheim-John Weidman musical Assassins premiered in late 1990 at Playwrights Horizons in New York City for a completely sold-out limited run.  The original cast included Victor Garber, Patrick Cassidy, Terrence Mann and Debra Monk. It was directed in a small space on a very low budget by Jerry Zaks. Its cast album, released 9 months later, propelled the show into legendary, cult-favorite status.  In 2004, it won 2 Outer Circle awards, 4 Drama Desk awards, 1 Grammy, and 5 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical. In their eleventh season, Porchlight Theatre brings Assassins to the Chicago stage in what easily is one of the theatre company's best productions to date.

Assassins is not your average upbeat musical. It takes you on a murky journey of nine people, including John Hinckley and Lee Harvey Oswald, who either failed or succeeded in the practice of assassinating American presidents. Through his score, Sondheim gives the nine assassins a voice in song to vent their psychoses. His music ranges from folk to ragtime to 1970's soft pop/rock. The voices of the actors portraying the 9 assassins are all equally stupendous; most are making their Porchlight debuts.  Every actor has at least one great moment on stage but the two stand-out performances belong to Michael Mahler (Balladeer) and Sara R. Sevigny (Sara Jane Moore).  Mahler's voice is flawless and his innocent facial reactions were fun to watch.  Sevigny had the audience out of their seats laughing with almost every line she delivered.

Director Michael Weber's vision of putting the freaky assassins in a museum exhibit is delicious and dead on (no pun intended).  Watching the passage of time with ensemble members walking through the museum exhibit is a very nice touch.  Usually based on space constraints, I have come to be disappointed by the sets and lights at Porchlight.  However, scenic designer Kevin Depinet and lighting designer Jessie Klug pulled out all the stops to make this set easily the best Porchlight has created in several seasons.  There are falling portraits of Presidents, flying pop cans, video presentations and a very stylish set that actually makes great use of what otherwise would be boring brown crates. 

It's great to finally see some new faces on and off stage at Porchlight.  The new talent is definitely reflected in the quality of the production.  Mixing black humor with rousing songs and a plethora of gunfire, Assassins is a strangely disturbing experience that is equally compelling to watch. The weather still may be a bit chilly outside, but warm yourself up inside to one of the best shows on a Chicago stage this winter.

Assassins
When: Through March 11^th
Where: The Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont Ave, Chicago
Prices: $25 - $32
Please note: Assassins is performed without an intermission

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