Some thoughts on the end of Assassins with JFK

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 12:36am

So, something occurred to me.

Assassins came out in 1991, so that was 28 years after JFK was assassinated. Meaning you could say a good amount of audience members still held that memory vividly and were the people in "Something Just Broke" (even though that song wasn't there yet). The musical becomes personal and present in that moment and especially I'm sure it felt that way in the early 90s. 

Now as time goes by, the show still ends with JFK and my question is, will that continue to be effective the further we get away from this event? At what point will JFK's assassination be seen as not categorically different than any of the others we witness in the show earlier?

Does this show have a potential to throughout the evening be a timeless walk through history and end feeling dated?

These aren't necessarily things I feel but more questions I'm putting out to others.

[Valentina3]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 9:38am

I think you have a really good point. I saw a remarkable regional production a couple years ago with a few friends (we were all in our mid-20s), and my American friends related with that moment by latching on to the stories told to them by their parents. I'm from India and Benazir Bhutto's assassination was in the papers and TV non-stop during my late teen years which had the same level of hysteria. We all definitely felt the raw emotions the older members in the audience were going through.

 

But I think the brilliance of Sondheim is that the song is not about the President's assassination as much as remembering the moment when tragedy hit you. I remember clear as day what I was doing when I found out about Pulse Orlando shooting. I'm sure most people remember what they were doing during 9/11. My bf says he remembers coming home from school to find his extremely stoic father crying on the couch. I think audience will be able to relate with that moment differently, in their own ways. 

Updated On: 7/14/17 at 09:38 AM

[Andremthefoozle]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 10:25am

I agree with Valentina that audiences who were not there to experience JFK's assassination will attach their own (more contemporary) experiences Something Just Broke, a song that I am increasingly finding more essential to the complete evening - especially for a 20something like me who hasn't been around for any of the events depicted or suggested in the show.

I hypothesize one thing that will help keep the show's ending from becoming too dated is that of the four assassinations depicted, JFK's is the one we have video of, the one we built still-argued conspiracies out of, the one Oliver Stone made a long movie of. The same can't be said for McKinley, Garfield, or even fully for Lincoln and so even though all of the shows events are constantly becoming further and further from the present, JFK still has an immediacy for me that I hope works for others as well.

[Owen22]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 2:16pm

"Something Just Broke" is not just about the JFK assassination.  It's characters, dressed in every assassinated president's era, sing about their particular president. All the presidents that have ever been assassinated. 

[Addison D.]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 4:08pm

There is tremendous emotional power for me--and presumably others who were alive in the 60s and 70s-- in the Oswald scenes.  The sight of a slightly-built man in that white T-shirt--whom we've neither seen/nor heard from up to that point--gives me chills every time. And that image of Jackie in the pink dress on the trunk of the Lincoln?  It carries all the wallop of photos of planes approaching the towers on 9/11.  

The message of the show does not depend upon familiarity with the specific stories and "Something Just Broke" might resonate with anyone who has lived through a momentous, tragic event, but I have to believe that for anyone who remembers Camelot--and its aftermath--'Assassins' packs an extra punch.

 

[Leaf Coneybear]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 5:33pm

I'm only 16 so I really had no emotional reaction to the JFK assassination, nor had my parents ever mentioned their reactions to me. But the first time I saw Assassins I remember crying during Something Just Broke for my own reasons, I related to it despite the fact that I wasn't relating to the actual event it's describing. I think it's like that for everyone, IMO everyone can remember a moment in their lives when disaster struck (even if it's not as seismic as an assassination or 9/11) 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/15/17 at 2:11am

Yeah, I was 9 at the time. I certainly understood that something major had happened (all my favorite TV shows were cancelled for the next three days), but the memory doesn't have the same emotional impact as something like the onset of the AIDS epidemic.

The show ASSASSINS is about the dark side of the American dream and should remain relevant relevant as long as ours is a country where we confuse "everyone has a right to his dreams" with "everyone has a right to realize his dreams".

On the other hand, I just came from the "Let's dump on OKLAHOMA!" thread, so perhaps I'm putting too much faith in Americans' ability to honor our history.

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 7/15/17 at 2:43am

Love all these thoughts. I'm reaffirmed how very vital "Something Just Broke" is. I completely agree it's an all encompassing reaction song, not just to an assassination but to any major disaster. But I think it also buffers the "It's all building to JFK" element of the show. 

 

Also interesting, Jodie Foster as years go by is less a name. The irony again of this being a 1991 musical is that was a huge year for her acting wise, and Hinkley's focus is her in Taxi Driver in the show.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/15/17 at 5:03am

 LeafConeyBear - you're parents might not have any stories.  My son is 16, and I was only 6 months old JFK was killed.  So unless your folks are much older than am I (and I'm older then lots of my son's friend's parents) there is nothing to share.

To the general conversation, I think Sondheim is far too brilliant to not be writing about universality. 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 12:04am

I understand where the original poster is coming from since it's something I was considering walking out of Assassins tonight. But I think that moment/song is still poignant on the albums. The issue, at least with this production was the direction and performances of the ensemble at that moment. I agree it can have emotional resonance whether or not you remember or have heard first hand accounts of the JFK assassination. It just didn't in this production. I think the reason why that moment of the show will continue to be successful even as the actual event recedes into history is because of the strong lyrics and the role it plays in the narrative. I think perhaps this production expected to play more on those with memories of the JFK assassination with the way they used the photo of the car (depicted on the revolving panels). Maybe that was part of the reason it didn't hold as much weight for me. 

[mpkie]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 5:10am

Valentina3 said: "I'm sure most people remember what they were doing during 9/11."

It's where my mind went during the song... and I experienced a feeling of strangeness around the idea of people "remembering what they were doing" all around the country when they found out about 9/11. Because I was in school a couple of blocks away and experienced a lot of mental trauma on that day. I ended up feeling incredibly emotional during that song as a result.

The words "something just broke" felt quite apt.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 7/17/17 at 12:46am

I was twelve years old when JFK was shot and I was in the opening night audience of ASSASSINS at Playwrights Horizons, and when the final scene came up on the Book Depository, there was a lot of sudden sitting-up-straight and intakes-of breath in the audience along with a palpable sense of  "Oh, no..."

I don't know if the addition of  "Something Just Broke", a song about other people's reactions, fits into the scheme of things- it would be like Lincoln stepping out of the theatrical shadows and singing "Oozing My Mind"-  and I've never grown fond of the song with it's abrupt multiple third-party perspective.  Somehow, the first few lines have always reminded me of "Four Black Dragons", without the threat.  I'm not sure the show needs it.

Updated On: 7/17/17 at 12:46 AM