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Musicals Re-born

 Stephen Sondheim wrote a "political trilogy" with John Weidman--"Pacific Overtures," "Assassins," and "Bounce." The one people really care about is "Assassins," and it's returning to Off-Broadway soon.


Long before this country's recent insurrection, Sondheim was thinking about domestic terrorism, white supremacy, the wealth gap. Why not make a musical out of all that? 

Sometimes, Sondheim's writing in this show makes me cringe. "Damn you, Lincoln: You threw the U out of the USA." This seems unworthy of the master. "Angry men don't write the rules, and guns don't right the wrongs." Not Steve's subtlest moment.

Still, I like Sondheim's idea that lunacy is a problem America will never fully address; the violence will bubble up, the "official narrative" will reassert itself, and then the violence will return again. In this version of American history, John Wilkes Booth commits the "original sin," and Hinckley, Oswald, and various Trump fans continue Booth's story. 

Also, so much of "Assassins" succeeds in showing off Sondheim's quirky braininess. After JFK died, a woman threw herself from the Duomo in Florence; the woman was making a tribute. (Why not include *that* detail in a Broadway musical?) .....Someone in America might crave fame after observing that "the mailman won the lottery....and the usherette's a rockstar...." (This was invented *before* "American Idol"--!) ......A highpoint: A scatterbrained would-be assassin loses her gun in her purse, and chatters (and chatters) about how the gun had been "on sale." Did you think she was referring to her shoe? Did you think the *shoe" was on sale? "No, not the shoe. Well....actually, the SHOE was, too!"

Sondheim understands we're all crazy, and that assassins are just a bit crazier than the norm. In one song, FDR is almost killed; the bystanders, who should know better than the assassins, find themselves succumbing to their own kind of childish neediness. Speaking with a reporter about FDR, a bystander realizes she has a shot at fame. She interrupts her own story. "This is my husband!" she shouts. "WE'RE from Maine!!!"

Can't wait to see this show downtown.....
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