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Another National Anthem : What Assassins Tells Us About the American Identity

February 16, 2021 Annie Golden, Jonathan Hadary, Debra Monk, Terrence Mann, Victor Garber, Lee Wilkof, Eddie Korbich, Greg Germann, and William Parry in Assassins at Playwrights Horizons, circa 1990 (© Martha Swope) When Assassins first opened at Playwrights Horizons in 1990, it left unsettled audiences in its wake. After revolutionizing the format of the American musical with Company, and inverting Western theatrical expectations with Pacific Overtures, composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim had appeared to reach his stride with larger-than-life productions like Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, each of which lived in its own specific cultural world. In many ways, Assassins was Sondheim s return home. His first splash on Broadway had been as the lyricist for

Review: Signature s sublime Simply Sondheim is as impactful as it is enjoyable

Halfway through Simply Sondheim comes a one-two punch of timely resonance, and in a way that’s far more impactful today than when the musical revue premiered at Signature Theatre six years ago. Sagely leading the group number “Now You Know” from Merrily We Roll Along, Awa Sal Secka might as well be commiserating with all those whose views about life, people, or society writ large have become appreciably less optimistic as a result of the pandemic and the related social ills it has exacerbated. “Alright, now you know: life is crummy,” Secka sings briskly. “I mean, big surprise; people love you and tell you lies. Bricks can tumble from clear blue skies.” The moral? “So life lays you low; learn to live with it…. It’s called letting go your illusions, and don’t confuse them with your dreams.”

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