| Stephen
Sondheim's 'Assassins' presented at USU
February 4, 2009 | Award-winning
musical "Assassins" opens at USU and is presented
by the department of theatre arts through the Caine
School of the Arts. "Assassins" opens Feb.
10 and performances continue through Feb. 14 at 7:30
p.m. in the Caine Lyric Theatre (28 W. Center, Logan).
Tickets are $13 for the public and
free to USU students and are available by calling the
Caine School of the Arts Box Office at (435) 797-8022
or visiting the box office online (http://boxoffice.usu.edu).
"Assassins" features music
and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and is based on a book
by John Weidman. The musical premiered off Broadway
in 1990 and had a successful revival on Broadway in
2004, winning the Tony Award for best revival. The show
features profiles of nine presidential assassins or
would-be assassins, including John Wilkes Booth, Lee
Harvey Oswald and Samuel Byck. The assassins live in
an ambiguous world in which the bizarre motivations
behind their acts are explored. Booth serves as their
leader, encouraging them that "everybody's got the right
to their dreams." The unique musical is strongly rooted
in fact and provides numerous education opportunities.
"Assassins" is part vaudeville
extravaganza and part exposé. Hugely resonant in today's
celebrity obsessed society, the story is peopled with
desperate characters intent on making their indelible
mark.
"'Assassins' is now considered
to be one of Stephen Sondheim's most original, disturbing
and exquisitely scored shows and has a reputation among
many as America's single most significant contribution
to world theater," said Kevin Doyle, director and theatre
arts department faculty member. "In many ways it's more
aligned with 'Sweeney Todd' than any other Sondheim
musical. He presents insane delusions that are at times
comical and other times frightening. The musical journeys
into the psyches of nine successful and failed presidential
assassins — individuals who aspire to acceptance, vindication,
fame, glory, even love. All of them desperate, lost,
frustrated and driven to a final act that, if nothing
else, gets them noticed."
"Assassins" features Trent
Bean as John Wilkes Booth, Nolan Derr as Lee Harvey
Oswald and Jeff Dransfield as Samuel Byck, among others.
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