Review Roundup: ASSASSINS Opens Off-Broadway at Classic Stage Company; Read the Reviews!

Classic Stage Company's production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins, directed by CSC's Tony Award-winning artistic director, John Doyle, officially opened on November 14.

Doyle's production features Adam Chanler-Berat (Peter and the Starcatcher, Next to Normal), as John Hinckley, Jr; Eddie Cooper (The Cradle Will Rock, This Ain't No Disco), as The Proprietor; Tavi Gevinson (Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth and Ivo van Hove's production of The Crucible), as Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme; Tony nominee Andy Grotelueschen (Tootsie, Tumacho), as Samuel Byck; four-time Tony nominee Judy Kuhn (Fiddler on the Roof, Fun Home), as Sara Jane Moore; Steven Pasquale (The Bridges of Madison County, American Son), as John Wilkes Booth; Tony nominee Ethan Slater (SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical, "Fosse/Verdon") as Lee Harvey Oswald/The Balladeer; Tony nominee Will Swenson (Hair, Waitress), as Charles Guiteau; Wesley Taylor (SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical, The Addams Family), as Giuseppe Zangara; and three-time Tony nominee Brandon Uranowitz (Burn This, Falsettos), as Leon Czolgosz; and Brad Giovanine (The Great Comet, The Awesome 80s Prom), Bianca Horn (The Color Purple, The Play That Goes Wrong), Whit K. Lee (Evergreen, "Law & Order: SVU"), Rob Morrison (Frankenstein, Avenue Q), and Katrina Yaukey (The Great Comet, Cabaret) as members of the ensemble. Understudies include Sam Bolen, Lee Harrington, and Ben Magnuson.

After recently announcing an extension, Assassins will now run through Saturday, January 29, 2022. Purchase tickets at classicstage.org.

Let's see what the critics are saying...

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Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times: The three-piece orchestra, led by Greg Jarrett, is supplemented in trademark Doyle style by some of the cast, notably Ethan Slater as the appealing Balladeer, who strolls the stage in a blue jumpsuit, playing an acoustic guitar. (Costumes are by Ann Hould-Ward.) Later he transforms into Oswald, a despondent young man with a powerful gun that - like many things here - comes wrapped in the flag. Heretical as it sounds, comic dialogue, not song, is this production's strongest suit. But aside from a curiously underwhelming rendition of "Unworthy of Your Love," the pretty, poppy duet between Fromme (Tavi Gevinson) and John Hinckley Jr. (Adam Chanler-Berat, who is suitably skin-crawling as the man who attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981), it's not that the musical performances are lacking.

Marilyn Stasio, Variety: Doyle ("Sweeney Todd," "Company," "The Color Purple") is a past master of ensemble showpieces, and this musical plays right to his strengths. The lineup here includes some of our most versatile performers, from Steven Pasquale as a fiery John Wilkes Booth to Ethan Slater as the twitchiest Lee Harvey Oswald imaginable. But plucking out any more players seems unfair to the flawless teamwork... although I just can't resist the inspired pairing of Judy Kuhn as Ronald Reagan's foiled assassin Sara Jane Moore and Tavi Gevinson as a spooky Squeaky Fromme. The scene with the two of them bickering over lipstick ("Nights of Ecstasy" by Max Factor) is just too weirdly funny.

Adam Feldman, TimeOut: Even so, Assassins remains fascinating. Pasquale, who also played Booth in the Encores! version in 2017, and Brandon Uranowitz, as the anarchist Leon Czolgosz, bring gravitas and depth to their performances. Will Swenson offers welcome comic relief in his manic portrayal of the delusional Charles Guiteau, who killed James Garfield, as does Judy Kuhn as the out-of-her depth Sara Jane Moore, especially in her scenes with fellow would-be Ford assassin and Charles Manson acolyte Squeaky Fromme (Tavi Gevinson). And Andy Grotelueschen-dressed in a Santa suit as the schlubby-grandiose Sam Byck, who tried to fly a plane into Nixon's White House-scores with a pair of monologues that prefigure the distrust of the government and cultural elites that animates much of the radical populist rhetoric we see today.

Robert Hofler, The Wrap: The most terrifying moment in "Assassins" remains "The Gun Song." The number's creepy ode to the beauty of this weaponry is compounded by Doyle's putting arguably the most prop guns ever seen on one stage. They aren't mentioned, but it's impossible not to let your mind wander to the "Rust" movie disaster, the twin trials of Kyle Rittenhouse and Ahmaud Arbery killers, and other events having nothing to do with presidents. "Assassins" only gets scarier.

Matt Windman, amNY: It is an uneven production, marked by an oppressively downbeat mood in which the comedy is downplayed, puzzling directorial choices (ensemble members wearing prison-like jumpsuits, ritualistically pulling red ribbons out of a folded American flag), and performances that range dramatically in their effectiveness.

David Cote, Observer: On the bright side, I'm delighted to luxuriate in Steven Pasquale's reptilian Booth, Brandon Uranowitz's passionate Czolgosz, Will Swenson's frothy loon Guiteau, and Judy Kuhn's ditsy, sad-eyed Sara Jane Moore, with cheeky sung narration by Ethan Slater's choirboy Balladeer. Adam Chanler-Berat (John Hinckley Jr.) and Tavi Gevinson (Squeaky Fromme) duet with tender insanity on the stalker ballad "Unworthy of Your Love." In a role heavier on speech than singing, Andy Grotelueschen absolutely nails every vulgar gag as Samuel Byck, a beer-swilling lout who planned to hijack a jumbo jet and fly it into Nixon's White House. There are fresh faces in the ensemble I can't wait to see again: Bianca Horn has a clear, strong soprano and makes a memorable impression as anarchist firebrand Emma Goldman. Just don't expect the production around this appealing cast to coalesce into anything shocking or challenging. A funereal restraint hovers over the night.

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