Assassins
Book by John Weidman Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Signature Theatre
Director: Joe Calarco
Choreographer: Karma Camp
Music Director: Jon Kalbfleisch
Scenic Design James Kronzer
Costume Design:Anne Kennedy
Lighting Design: Chris Lee
Sound Design: Tony Angelini
Winner of 4 Helen Hayes Awards
including
Best Director of a Musical
"So how do I convey the pow! factor in Signature Theatre's startling new staging of Assassins without spoiling it for you? I'll try to be as cagey as Joe Calarco, who's found an absorbingly original way to bring out the harsh, satirical colors in this controversial musical. Calarco's approach is boldly, stylishly theatrical, a match for the nerviness of the show itself. His achievement is allowing us to develop an intimate bond -- and perhaps even better understand our shared cultural conditioning -- with the lunatics, misfits and malcontents who shoot their way into American political history. The cumulative effect of this Assassins is exhilarating."
-The Washington Post
​"Joe Calarco asks us, if not to embrace these anti-heroes of U.S. history, to at least consider that the assassins are part of society. This brash, confrontational production reflects some of America's most painfully violent moments back at the audience, much the way we see our faces reflected among the dead on the Wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The result is almost uncomfortably intimate, as Signature's production blurs the lines between audience and actor, assassin and citizen."
-The Washington Times
"Streamlined, savvy, and spectacularly effective, Signature Theatre’s Assassins looks through a glass darkly at the United States and the monsters she sometimes creates—and what director Joe Calarco shows audiences in his funhouse mirror is themselves. And while too much detail would ruin the shiver and the shock of the image Calarco has conjured for the top of the show, let’s just say when that skewed American flag of a curtain gets whisked away, Signature’s staging confronts spectators with a disturbing, disorienting visual metaphor for the notion that the next Booth or Oswald or Hinckley might be sitting in a seat down front."
-The Washington City Paper
"Disarming. Disorienting. Immediately shatters the line between 'us' and 'them.' Calarco's high concept production is an experiment in artistic confidence. With Calarco's renovated version of Assassins, you get more bang for your buck."
— Metro Weekly
Donna Migliaccio, Andy Brownstein, Erin Gardiner, Matt Conner, Mika Duncan, Will Gartshore, Tally Sessions, Peter Joshua Burroughs
Will Garshore
Donna Migliaccio, Andy Brownstein, Erin Gardiner, Matt Conner, Mika Duncan, Peter Joshua Burroughs, Tally Sessions, Will Gartshore
Donna Migliaccio, Andy Brownstein, Erin Gardiner, Matt Conner, Mika Duncan, Will Gartshore, Tally Sessions, Peter Joshua Burroughs