BLAIR WOYNARSKI
Arts Writer

“Everybody’s got the right to be happy.”

Those words echo from the opening song from the new musical at the Greystone Theatre that opens this week. One might think this is leading into a nice, feel-good show about some idyllic yesteryear, but once the actor singing the song starts handing out guns, it’s time to reconsider.

Assassins is the name of the show, and it’s about precisely what the title suggests. The cast includes everyone who ever killed or attempted to kill a president of the United States. Interested yet?

First written in 1990, the musical became increasingly popular after its Broadway revival in 2004. This is one of many unconventional musicals created by Stephen Sondheim (who is also responsible for Sweeney Todd) and, as expected, it generated some controversy. After all, what can we expect from a musical about assassins?

“Entertaining but unsettling” is how director Julia Jamison curtly sums it up. Jamison, an acting and voice professor with the drama department, was looking forward to bringing a musical back to the Greystone stage. Though there have been a few musical-esque plays, such as last year’s Mother Courage, it has been several years since the drama department mounted an actual musical. Jamison found Sondheim to be a natural choice.

“Anything by Sondheim is not typical,” she said. “He understands how to push convention.”

Assassins isn’t normal musical theatre, featuring neither ostentatious showcasing nor tragic romance. It was a great choice for the acting department, because it gave the performers the chance to dig into the psychology of their characters. What they found were not cardboard villains, as one might be tempted to draw them, but, as Jamison said, people “whose experience of the American dream is pretty warped.”

The music is variously exuberant, haunting and eccentric. It uses a lot of upbeat rhythms and vibrant presentations to counterpoint the disturbing subject matter. This alternates with some more sombre ballads that dig deeper into the characters. The eclectic mix is entertaining and provocative. It pulls musical styles from the different time periods in which it is set to appeal to a wide range of senses.

The plot and staging comprise a lot of mercurial shifts through time and space. It begins with John Wilkes Booth and climaxes with Lee Harvey Oswald. In between, the action freely jumps around the timeline, with assassins slipping in and out of their own time periods to offer each other encouragement. Each one has their own take on the state of America and their own reasons for picking up a gun.

Some would-be assassins most viewers will not be familiar with. The attempt of two Manson-followers Sarah Jane Moore and Lynette Fromme is more comical than disturbing, while Sam Byck’s plan to steal an airplane and fly it into the White House is particularly haunting today.

The play has been called “pro-assassin,” a claim that Jamison quickly denies.

“It allows the assassins to speak their minds,” she said.

The play isn’t meant to rouse anyone to roll down to Ottawa with a loaded shotgun, but it is merely to place these massive historical events in the perspective of the people who made them happen. It gives a voice to people who have either been completely forgotten or reduced to one-dimensional villains.

Assassination is always a risky subject, especially in current uncertain times, but it contains an important lesson to consider. Each of the assassins felt failed by their country in some way, just as many people today feel. Jamison notes it’s worth remembering that “the same country that produces presidents… produces assassins.”

For those who love musicals and those who don’t, Assassins offers something special. From the eccentric vitality of its music to the dark edge of its humour to its eerily prescient political message, there is a lot to take away from it. If you have been waiting for a wickedly funny show with great music, razor-sharp wit and plenty of gunfire then here it is. Just remember, everybody’s got the right to be happy.

Assassins runs from Feb 4 – 12 at Greystone Theatre at 8 p.m. Tickets are $13 for students.

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photo: Robby Davis