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Assassins » Original Broadway Cast

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Show Details

• Show: Assassins (4)
• Music: Stephen Sondheim (272)
• Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim (272)
• Book: John Weidman (9)

Recording Details

• Date: 2004
• Type: Audio / Stage Cast
• Language: English
• Location: US / NY / New York
• Orchestrations: Michael Starobin (49)
• Conductor: Paul Gemignani (80)
• Producer: Philip Chaffin (27),  Tommy Krasker (60)
• Liner Notes: John Weidman (9)
• Performer: Becky Ann Baker (3),  James Barbour (11),  Mario Cantone (7),  Michael Cerveris (10),  Merwin Foard (5),  Eamon Foley (2),  Mary Catherine Garrison (2),  Alexander Gemignani (8),  Neil Patrick Harris (5),  Kendra Kassebaum,  Marc Kudisch (29),  Jeffrey Kuhn (2),  Denis O'Hare (4)
• Notes: First recording of "Something Just Broke," originally written for the London production at the Donmar Warehouse.

Recording Releases

Buy MP3 Album (or listen to Sound Clips) Format: CD Label: PS Classics PS-421 Released: 2004-08-03 Barcode: 0803607042127 Buy from:

Shows/Hide Tracks: 01. Everybody's Got the Right 02. Ballad Of Booth 03. Ladies And Gentlemen, A Toast! 04. How I Saved Roosevelt 05. What Does A Man Do...? 06. Gun Song 07. Ballad Of Czolgosz 08. Unworthy of Your Love 09. I Am A Terrifying And Imposing Figure...! 10. Ballad Of Guiteau 11. Have It Your Way 12. Another National Anthem 13. Take A Look Lee 14. Something Just Broke 15. Everybody's Got the Right

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Posted 2007-08-05 20:52:48:
Amazon.com Editoral Review: "Everybody's got a right/To their dream." So begins Stephen Sondheim's 1991 show Assassins--and in this case, said dreams involve killing an American president. The characters form a veritable rogues' gallery, including John Hinckley, Lee Harvey Oswald and John Wilkes Booth of course, but also half-forgotten luminaries such as Leon Czolgosz (who killed McKinley) and "Squeaky" Fromme (who aimed for Gerald Ford with an unloaded gun). While Sondheim's lyrics are trenchant as ever, his music, which ranges from Sousa pomp to clever little waltzes, is technically brilliant but also oddly uninvolving. (Many fans prefer the recording of the 1991 Off-Broadway version, though "Something Just Broke," which was added to the 1992 London production, makes its recorded debut here.) Still, there are several high points. In "Unworthy of Your Love," for instance, Hinckley and Fromme wax poetic about their unrequited love for Jodie Foster and Charles Manson, respectively, in a Burt Bacharach-style ballad that's deliberately (I hope!) sappy. And of course as with most Sondheim shows, the cast of this revival--Michael Cerveris, Mario Cantone, Becky Ann Baker, Marc Kudisch, Denis O'Hare--is very good. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

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