"Assassins" by The Cast

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

The action starts with a fairground vending machine that vends guns, as opposed to drinks or confectionery, and is run by The Proprietor with the sole aim to assassinate a president. Take your pick!

After the guns have been given out, we hear various excuses to use the guns to extinguish a President of your choice, from having a bellyache to family issues. All can be resolved by assasinating a President. There is obviously more to the musical than this, but this is where all the fun starts

I know several of Sondheim's musicals and I know that he loves to write dark, yet comic shows, and this is exactly what was delivered. The lyrics tell the story with delicious black comedy, set to various music styles ranging from rock to country.

It's like having a history lesson about the infamous assassins, and would be assassins, throughout history, From Brutus leading up to Kennedy's killer, Lee Harvey Oswald. I wish my history lessons in school were half as interesting.

We soon discover that history is repeating, and will possibly do so again as the story takes in the lure of celebrity, infamy, gun culture and politics. We don't need to look too far to see that all of these subjects are just as current today.

We see a dissection of the mind of the characters featured, John Wilkes Booth, Emma Goidman, Leon Czolgosz, Charles Guiteau, John Hinckley, Sara Jane Moore, Lynette Fromme, Samuel Byck, Guiseppe Zangara and of course Lee Harvey Oswald.

Simon Theobald plays The Proprietor, and you would not have recognised Simon from the character he played due to the wonderful make up. Think the film version of The Joker and that is what we were looking at on stage. Only when Simon sang did you realise just who the actor was behind this eerie character. A very different role to the ones that he normally plays.

Andrew Buxton plays John Wilkes Booth in Andrew's 50th production. Menacing but in control he is the one who incites the unsure Oswald. Needless to say Andrew's, as well as all of these actor's vocals are spot on, and they deliver with ease. Sondheim's flair for harmonising is well highlighted in this show, and the actors vocals weave in and out of each other at times beautifully.

Graham Buchanan plays Guiseppe Zangara, and what I loved about Graham's performance was, and I know that Graham is adept at accents, is the very natural Italian accent. I was actually asked if Graham was Italian, such was the masterful mimicry.

Kheenan Jones is Leon Czolgosz, and again, here is another accent, Polish this time, and yet again spot on with the tone. His deep singing voice also blended so well in the harmonics of the group, creating a full and rounded range of vocals for Sondheim's superb soundtrack.

Jarrod Makin plays John Hinkley Jr. What I marvelled so much at with this production is the way that make up, costumes and wigs can completely alter a person, and with Jarrod I really had to scrutinise this character he played to identify him. I've known Jarrod for a few years now but as Hinkley Jr., I would not have been able to pick Jarrod out of an identity parade. A complete case of the character taking over the actor, as with Simon.

Emily Corner is Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, and there are a couple of scenes that Emily plays with Siân Scattergood Grantham, who plays Sara Jane Morris which are really funny; they make a brilliant comedy act. And to be fair, when I last saw "Assassins" a few years ago, I could not remember that production having as much comedy in as this one does. these two provide some wonderful comedy moments, and I looked forward to when both actors were on stage in the same scene.

Joe Woffindon is Charles J Guiteau, and I am almost sure that Joe is a new face to me, but what a brilliant addition to The Cast's cast. Joe has a really good voice and I loved the comedy, as well as a few menacing moments he brought to this musical.

William Evans plays The Balladeer. Now William has one of those faces that belies his age. Thankfully he is tall, so i don't think he'd need to carry I.D. around with him to be served in a bar. Will has the ability though to somehow change his features to amke him look slightly older, and that comes into play when portraying Lee Harvey Oswald and the anger and frustration really shows in his face. Quite chameleonic in fact. His voice though is well suited to these songs, he has a really easy country style voice, which I imagine he will also be able to change, chameleonically, to match other vocal styles.

Sam Byck is played by Jack Readyhoof Now I was talking to my reviewer friend in the car driving home and we were discussing what we liked most about this musical and who we were impressed with in the show, believe me, that was a hard topic due to everyone being of such a very high standard. Jack is one of those actors that, when you know he is in a show, you look forward to seeing. He did not disappoint at all. His monologues as Byck were epic. If ever you want to scare your kids to sleep with a bedtime story, hire Jack as Byck and they will be guaranteed nightmares, just by his style of delivery. Jack is one of those actors who plays "unhinged" extremely well, and Byck definitely falls into that category. Another role that Jack just smashed out of the ball park with his vocal delivery and visual performance.

A very entertaining ensemble consisting of Neil Ledward (The Sorceror), Owen Patten (The Hustler), Shannon O'Donnell (The Songstress), Emily Owen (The Bearded Lady), Lydia Thacker (the Acrobat), Arden-Caspar Jennison and Becky Morley (Mime), Philippa Buchanan (The Fortune Teller) and Lilia Scattergood (The Kid). Watch out for a very quick but humorous scene with the Arden-Casper and Becky.

Directed by Chris Grantham, who has done everything possible to make sure that this show is the success that it has turned out to be. He has used every bit of the stage as well as the auditorium to bring the actors into play, keeping the audience on their toes. The interaction also starts before the musical begins!

Choreography by Siân Scattergood Grantham. With Sian at the chorographical helm, I knew that this area of the show would be a success, and it was.

Sound Operation by Dave Dallard, so nothing to critique in this area.. Perfect sound mix and operation.

The Sound Effect Design, which was another excellent area of this show, was by Chris Grantham.

The Set design, and I am not going to give anything away but to say "WOW", a definite eye pleaser, is also by Chris Grantham.

I previously mentioned the make up for the actors and just how good it is, and Charlie Buchanan is the person I need to heap praise on for this area of the production.

The costumes are outstanding and sourced by Becky Morley and the cast.

Lighting Design by Chris Grantham and operated by Harry McDonald-Preston. The design and operation is worthy of any professional show.

Musical Director for this show is Martin Lewis. With so many multi harmonic pieces, this is no easy ride but those harmonies were beautifully layered. It also showed sections where Sondheim borrowed parts of this score for later musical pieces like "Into the Woods", as well as borrows from previous soundtracks like "West Side Story". All in all a gorgeously rich soundtrack.

And finally I really must mention the stage management by Rob Corner and Katie Bird. The combination of swift stage management and the lighting operation, sets and people seemed to just disappear, keeping the pace of the show fleeting, and as there is no interval in the production, there was no hanging around for incidental music to cover set moves.

I joked after the show that all i really need to put in this review was the word "WOW" as there were no faults to find in anything to do with this presentation, but you know that would never happen as I love to waffle when a show is as professional and entertaining as this one is.

"Assassins" will be played out at The Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 25 March.