MUSICAL THEATRE REVIEW: ASSASSINS
11JAN/11

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

When Thomas Wolfe titled his posthumously published opus You Can't Go Home Again, he was referring more to a world in constant thrall to change and time than to any sort of arcane travel restrictions on returning to the family homestead. All of which means that even if Birdland and Talk is Free Theatres, co-producers of last year's acclaimed production of ASSASSINS, had been able to reassemble every single element of their Dora-winning show for its current remount, time and temperament would have ensured that it was a different show.

Even without all the bullets and bloodshed in Arizona. Still, there's no denying that current events lend an eerie new depth to this version of the highly theatrical collaboration between iconic lyricist/composer Stephen Sondheim and playwright John Weidman, concerned as it is with the tendency of disaffected Americans to take potshots at their high-profile politicians. ASSASSINS re-opened at the Theatre Centre Saturday.

But, in the end, this is a production changed by more than current events, for in bringing their Barrie-born production south to the Toronto stage once more, director Adam Brazier and musical director Reza Jacobs have had to contend with other variables as well. Unable to secure the services of several members of their original 14-member cast, they have managed nonetheless to maintain much of the musical theatre muscle that made this production such a hit in its original incarnation, balancing the excellence of those members that did return with carefully considered new talent.

That means audiences can still thrill to the work of superb actors like Martin Julien, in the role of The Proprietor (serving much the same function as the emcee in Cabaret), overseeing a shopworn funhouse inhabited by the likes of John Wilkes Booth, Charles Guiteau and Lee Harvey Oswald (a chilling Paul McQuillan, an affecting Steve Ross and a tragic Geoffrey Tyler respectively, all reprising memorable performances honed a year ago and more).

But at the same time, this production affords a chance to see fresh talents like Lisa Horner and Janet Porter (respectively cast as Sara Jane Moore and Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme), Alex Fiddes (Leon Czolgosz) and Whitney Ross-Barris (Emma Goldman) carve themselves memorable niches within the ensemble as well. And in the end, current events notwithstanding, it is changes such as these that most affect that structure of the piece and, happily, rather than simply try to disguise those changes, Brazier and Jacobs embrace them.

In the process, they've tweaked their production in various ways large and small in collaboration with their skilled lighting designer Gareth Crew, while maintaining a very obvious commitment to what still proves in its new incarnation to be a stunning piece of must-see musical theatre.

And yet ... Even while current events conspire to add a powerful punch to the proceedings, one detects a slight imbalance, all but imperceptible, in the story as it now plays out. For whatever reason, Brazier has allowed a still excellent Graham Abbey, who plays the deranged Samuel Byck -- a drunken whack-job who planned to kill Nixon by flying a plane into the White House long before 9/11 proved such things weren't as fanciful as we'd like to believe -- into a starring role instead of maintaining the powerful sense of ensemble they'd established. This is a big, bold performance that would be a whole lot bigger if it were just the tiniest bit smaller -- a little less bold and a little more edgy.

In the end, however, ASSASSINS is a remarkable achievement, one that is likely to leave you hoping, for even just a moment, that Wolfe was right and we'll never have to go back to this home again. Even while current events suggest we already have.