Saturday, 21 February 2015

Assassins – A Musical by Stephen Sondheim

About the show:

Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman, based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr. It uses the premise of a murderous carnival game to produce a revue-style portrayal of men and women who attempted (successfully or not) to assassinate Presidents of the United States. The music varies to reflect the popular music of the eras depicted.

The musical first opened Off-Broadway in 1990, and the 2004 Broadway production won five Tony Awards.

More info on the musical: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassins_(musical)

More info on the show at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London:

Assassins at the Menier Chocolate Factory

My opinion:

As a big musical fan I was really excited to see this show. I’ve been a Sondheim fan for ages, I even wrote my thesis about him for my Baccalaureate.

We are doing the show next year with our theatre group, so it was pretty special. When the cast was announced I couldn’t believe my eyes! There he was: AARON TVEIT, one of my favourite musical actors. I first saw him in Gossip Girl and then properly in the Les Misérables movie. He has an amazing voice and he’s an awesome actor.

The theatre is in an old chocolate factory, a very special place. We went for dinner there first, it was delicious. Well, when we sat there and ate, he came in and got ready ;) My mum’s comment when he came in (I had my back to the door): A good looking guy just came in…

Well, now let’s get to the show. The venue was in a basement kind off set-up, with six rows on the right and six rows in the left, they were playing in the middle. We sat in forth row and it was great to have the actors so close.

The show is really intense and none of the actors, whether it was a same role or a big

one, left the stage. They were always in character walking around and coming up to where the audience was. They put a lot of heart and emotions into the acting and the songs. It was awesome to see their expressions so close. The acting was brilliant and they all had their accents well lined out. The songs were something else, they not only live with a melody and the singing, the need a lot of emotions and skilled singers. They have done a great job. There wasn’t much dancing, but the choreographed parts were fantastic, small things, but very effective.

The scenes changes and the costumes changes were perfectly integrated into the show and it all had a nice flow with the orchestra playing music in between. Small props and effects made the show very dramatic, but also very authentic.

I loved every part of this show. The actors were fantastic, especially the men. But of course the best part for me was Aaron ;) He is amazing to see LIVE on stage, his acting is marvellous and he has the voice of a god!!!

After the show we went to have a drink in the bar and I was really hoping for Aaron to come out. And he did… There were other young girls waiting for him and he signed their programs and took a picture of them. I became like a child again, a bit shy, but I went up and told him, how amazing he was, how great the whole show was and that it was awesome seeing him live. He signed my program and then my mum took a picture of us!!! THE BEST NIGHT EVER!!!! He’s so nice in person and he’s the only man looking great in a beard and moustache, I prefer him without though ;)

I found a little interview on broadway.com with Aaron talking about the show at the Menier Chocolate Factory: