"The show’s revuelike format allows the authors to vary the palette with mad scenes, melodrama, minstrelsy and vaudeville. In the concert presentation of 'Assassins'...it is the comedy that works best...Kauffman does not make a legible case for the existence of two narrator figures...Nor has she been able to maintain drive through all of the vividly contrasting, often nonlinear scenes. But 'Assassins' is largely self-correcting, especially in its score...It is vocally exceptional."
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"Perhaps the most moving and persuasive argument yet for Sondheim and Weidman’s 'Assassins'...The timing of this concert could not have been more stunning. Under Anne Kauffman’s miraculously seamless direction, the ensemble soars; especially Pasquale, along with Shuler Hensley as Leon Czolgosz and Danny Wolohan as Samuel Byck. The 'Assassins' concerts are repeated through this weekend. Don’t pass up your chance to catch a show the times finally have caught up with."
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"Mordantly funny and disturbing...Pasquale’s is just one of many superb performances in this production...Not everything works smoothly...The actors relied on scripts a little more than usual for Encores! shows these days. There was also an occasional tentativeness to the performances...More generally, the bare-bones staging proves a bit limiting...The performers and 12-piece orchestra do full justice to Sondheim’s score...The music is richly melodic and the lyrics witty and provocative."
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"Kauffman made a lot of choices that I disagree with, such as encouraging the actors to scale down the tone of their performances...This is a difficult and challenging musical that works best in an intimate venue...As such, it was never going to work perfectly at City Center. For the most part however, this is a potent staging of a groundbreaking musical that contains many great performances—and I would urge anyone who appreciates serious musical theater to check out the production."
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"Thought-provoking and timely...Theatergoers who have dodged the show in the past will want to make sure they don't let this production whiz past...Anne Kauffman's production, though it takes a moment to find its footing, ultimately drives home a strong political message with its emphasis not on the nine misfits and malcontents who tried to kill presidents, nor even on the presidents they wanted to kill, but rather on the gun-loving country that brought them into being."
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"Anne Kauffman's exciting and incisive concert mounting...Sondheim's score, rather slyly, contains some of his catchiest melodies, as characters sing in the popular styles of their times...Unusual for a musical, Weidman's book contains many scenes that stand alone without leading into songs, and Kauffman's keen naturalistic direction makes these moments stand out with just as much impact as the musical ones."
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"Mostly thrilling, occasionally misfired production...As the man who killed Lincoln, Steven Pasquale is a marvel...The production itself, which is being directed by Anne Kauffman, is not without its flaws...But for a myriad of reasons, none of which its creators could have anticipated, 'Assassins' has become a show for our time. This is why, along with a number of very strong performances, especially that of Pasquale, this production ought to be a very hot ticket."
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"The true message of the musical comes through loud and clear in Anne Kauffman’s beautifully cast and thoughtfully conceived production...Far from a simple morality play, 'Assassins' is one of musical theater’s most complex works, as it humanizes (to some degree) these troubled souls...Moreover, for all its darkness, Weidman and Sondheim provide genuine opportunities for light and laughter...The time is always for 'Assassins,' especially when it’s done with this much conviction!"
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