See Assassins at Haddonfield Plays and Players for a Killer Good Time

by Angela Robb

Assassins, based on the musical by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman, follows a group of people from various points in history who have attempted (either successfully or unsuccessfully) to assassinate the current president of The United States using a framing devise of a roadside carnival. It sounds like a weird topic for a musical but it was one I had always been interested in seeing live and never had the opportunity until Haddonfield Plays and Players announced Assassins for their season. I was lucky enough to catch their opening night performance but unexpectedly got something more from the piece since it was being performed in the shadow of the most recent assassination attempt against former president and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. While the team of HP&P had no way of knowing they would be opening the same week as a real life assassination attempt one can’t deny it made the story feel all the more timely. 

As mentioned above the show uses a framing devise of a road side carnival. Maybe because it feel like classic America with a ticket booth, carnival shooting games, and a picnic table constructed out of wood with lights in the distance for the ferris wheel? Maybe because there’s always a hint of danger lurking around the corner with slight fog flowing into the space and the lights preset at a dark blue. Or maybe because they’re in purgatory guarded by The Devil aka The Proprietor played by Zachary R. Taylor, handing each assassin their weapon and leading them to their eventual demise? Director Justin Walsh’s design ensured that the tone was set from the second each audience member walked into the theatre. 

Playing a real life person is always a challenge but playing someone who is seen as a villain in the eyes of history and having to find the humanity inside of them is an even bigger challenge. But Walsh chose an incredible cast of actors that were not only up to the task but fit his vision for each character perfectly. As mentioned in the previous paragraph Zachary R. Taylor plays The Proprietor, a brooding figure that felt like a symbol of death. He gave each character their guns at the beginning and conclusion of the show and lead each assassin to their eventual demise including setting Giuseppe Zangara up to the electric chair or handing Charles Guiteau his noose. Taylor’s serious expression and stoic body language gave him an air of ominousness whenever the character made an appearance. Without that ominousness the character would not have worked so effectively. If The Proprietor is the devil on each assassin’s shoulder then The Balladeer is the angel. Played by Brian Herrick, The Balladeer not only contrasted the grave nature of The Proprietor with a positive and hopeful demeanor but also was the real life personification of the American Dream, reminding each assassin to look at the positives of what America has to offer. All of this reaches a head towards the end of the show when, by use of an onstage costume change, The Balladeer transforms into Lee Harvey Oswald. Herrick brought a sense of optimism and hope to the character and it was fascinating to see those positives decline as the story progressed. As Oswald the decline in hope is brought to the forefront as he must choose whether or not to shoot John F. Kennedy. Watching Herrick’s transition from someone who desperately believed in the American dream to someone so hopeless they resort to killing the president was nothing short of impressive. 

Encouraging Oswald to make his deadly choice is John Wilkes Booth, played by Andrew Boettcher. Booth started off the show relatively together (as together as someone who just assassinated Abraham Lincoln could be) but as the show went on he descended deeper into madness. This is the most apparent in his scene with Lee Harvey Oswald. Boettcher did a great job portraying Booth’s psychological decline. Booth was not the only character in this show that has a descent into madness as their primary story arc. Bobby Kramer plays Charles Guiteau, the assassin of James Garfield. The character starts out as an optimistic supporter of the American dream and his desire to become ambassador to France is seen as an ambitious goal. His optimism is a stark contrast to the other assassins trapped with him in the carnival. As the show progresses Guiteau becomes forceful when Sara Jane Moore rejects his advances and his dream of being ambassador to France is seen in a new light as a ridiculous delusion. Kramer’s acting skills really came into play as Guiteau’s moods shifted at the drop of a hat. Each transition of emotion came naturally and nothing was overacted. Of all of the assassins he was one of them you were almost rooting for until his attempt at taking advantage of Moore and killing the president. 

While the cast was filled with extremely talented performers two of my favorites were Julian DeRoyce Bliss as Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of William McKinley, and Joe Carlucci as Samuel Byck, the attempted assassin of Richard Nixon. Czologosz was another character that started out sympathetic. One of his introductory moments was a trigger to anger from a bottle breaking. This launches him into a monologue describing the horrors he sees in the bottle factory he works in and how many immigrants like him die or are injured just to make a bottle like the one that just broke. Bliss did a superb job with this monologue and the anger at the injustice towards immigrants during the industrial revolution was clear throughout. The anger was balanced with pain and heartbreak that the land of opportunity that was promised to him when he immigrated to America was a lie. Bliss had excellent stage chemistry with Kramer as Czolgosz and Guiteau argue over the state of the American dream. Like Czolgosz, Byck also started out relatively unassuming. He spent the show dressed in a Santa suit, a reference to his 1973 Christmas Eve protest of Nixon. Funny yet crass, he gave off a familiar sort of energy like he was someone’s uncle or coworker (minus the whole trying to blow up the president thing). Byck’s scenes were all monologues performed via tape recorder, one to composer Leonard Bernstein and the other to Richard Nixon himself. Only utilizing monologues is a challenge for any actor but Carlucci makes it seem easy. Each of his monologues was done with varying levels and each emotion shift felt natural. He really took his time to reach each emotion and it was done in a way that not only felt real but also was entertaining to the audience. For example his first monologue transitions from calmly talking about his desire to save the world by writing love songs to a buildup of anger by explaining how he is going to change the world by crashing 747 into the White House and killing Richard Nixon, to energetically singing America from West Side Story. Both of Carlucci’s monologues were a master class in acting and I was beyond impressed with the skill used to convey so many emotions in such a natural way. 

MJ Smith plays Giuseppe Zangara, the attempted assassin of Franklin D. Roosevelt. While the character was relatively small compared to the other assassins, I thoroughly enjoyed Smith’s performance. I wish Zangara had more of a build up to his assassination attempt like the others so I could have the opportunity to have seen more of Smith’s undeniable skill. W.D. Fordy plays John Hinckley, the attempted assassin of Ronald Regan. From his first moments on stage I was captivated by Fordy’s body language. Even when not the primary focus, Fordy was fidgeting his fingers and spent the show looking as though he were jumping out of his skin. By contrast to many of the assassins who start the show sympathetic or appearing like typical citizens it was clear from the start that Hinckley was unhinged. Hinckley’s assassination attempt was in an effort to win the heart of actress Jodie Foster, on who he was obsessed with from afar. The character sings a love duet to her along with the character of Lynnette Squeaky Fromme who is singing to her love Charlie - Charles Manson that is. Only Stephen Sondheim can write a love ballad like this. Squeaky Fromme, played by Kelly Lynn Flores, attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford on orders from Charles Manson. She played the character with the spirit, spunk, and even apathy of a young hippie while also displaying how her devotion to Charlie has a deep effect on her personality. Squeaky had a lot of comic relief moments, especially in her scenes with Sara Jane Moore, played by Katie Elizabeth Hughes. While their moments together were funny the scenes also showed the similarities and differences between these two women. Hughes was a stand out as Sara Jane Moore and consistently had the audience laughing out loud at her trigger happy tendencies.

The ensemble is made up of Jared Camacho, Amanda Frederick, Wesley Frederick, David J. Fusco, Mark Gollihur, Liz Mattera, Gabriella Prince, Will Reid, Marisa Wolf, Natalie Wrigley, and Sara Vattimo. The ensemble was strong and helped highlight how assassination attempts affect the American people. They took over the narrative from the assassin in the song “How I Saved Roosevelt” and heartbreakingly reflected on the assassination of JFK and how America wouldn’t be the same in the song “Something Just Broke”. I wish the program highlighted which ensemble members played featured roles throughout the production. One played anarchist Emma Goldman and had a lovely scene with Czologsz about fighting for social justice. Another ensemble member had a beautiful solo during “Something Just Broke” reminding me of the stories I’ve heard from my mom about how upset citizens were in the days following the death of JFK.

Eric Baker designed the lighting for this production which was the creative highlight of the production for me. The lighting was very colorful and frequently changed, especially at points of high emotion. Baker also made a consistent effort to highlight things happening on opposite ends of the stage. For example during the FDR assassination spotlights were used to indicate what is happening on each side of the stage with strobe lights for Zangara’s electrocution. By contrast when something is happening on one end of the stage and not the other the empty side was darkened. Spinning spotlights were used to represent police presence. During JFK’s assassination the lighting went low with the only brightness coming from the window at the street below. After shots were fired the stage lights went red. I was very impressed with the lighting for this production. It was clear that Baker put thought into this design and each cue was designed with intention. 

Ryan PJ Mulholland’s costume design was appropriate for each time period that the character was from. Booth wore old fashioned clothes from the Civil War era, Fromme wore a hippie dress with long hair, and Moore wore a powder blue business suit with a permed wig. It wouldn’t be a show about assassination attempts without a good fight/gun coordinator and Sean McGarry was up for the challenge. Each scene where a gun was fired was done with care for the cast, crew, and audience. All of the guns were non firing props but the effect was simulated with light and sound cues as well as training the actors to correctly handle the weapon. Tracy Jones’ prop design was well done, especially for the weapons. Each of the assassins’ guns were period appropriate for their specific time period. However, the picnic table that was used by many of the characters throughout the play squeaked whenever someone sat at it which was very distracting. Sound engineers Kevin Salvatorelli and Ryan McAuliffe were able to balance the sound of the score over the microphones of the performers sufficiently. Everyone was able to be heard with thanks to music director Jared Moskowitz. The whole cast sounded fantastic and there wasn’t a sour note to be heard. However, there was a moment where a delayed sound cue caused a halt in the performance but after that the show went on without a hitch. Alison Korn’s choreography was well done and helped move the story along. It wasn’t overly flashy which was good for a story as somber as this one.

Assassins may be a show that focuses on past historical figures but if recent events have proven anything it is that some things may not be as in the past as you would think. With the increasing political unrest and gun violence in our country a story like Assassins seems timelier now than ever. The show runs at Haddonfield Plays and Player s until October 5th. You can purchase tickets here: https://haddonfieldplaysandplayers.csstix.com/event-details.php?e=508