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From: softpaw
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  • is that a restaurant ?

  • @kaphibarka Uhh...no its an awards show. For Broadway shows.

  • @softpaw i know :) I just saw some cgraig ferguson`s interview with neil patrick harris, where neil mentioned he is playing harmonica since he had a role in assassins. And craigs ferguson`s reaction was: is that a restaurant. i just thought it`s more famous quote.

  • @kaphibarka sorry for make a mistake in his name. twice :)

  • LOL the guy playing hinckley is just too realistic

  • The lee harvey oswald character in this always freaked me waaay the f out.

  • I've never seen the musical, but the revival album alone gives me chills.

  • Sondheim is such a genius. The melody itself is nothing to write home about, but the lyrics and the way the song ended... brilliant.

  • Sondheim is truely king of musicals. My favourites by him are Assassins and Into the Woods. They are really interesting ideas =D And thanks to Assassins, I get to ask my history teacher to teach about Assassins (though she doesnt >.< Didnt even mention FDR almost getting shot by Zangara). I can always dream though. But dammit if I ever get assassinated by someone then dammit I want it to be NPH XD

  • People need to understand that NPH was involved in musicals BEFORE how I met your mother. Everyone is always so surprised when they find that out. NPH and musicals FTW!

  • @teenactorfan And how many of these assignations, let alone the assassins themselves, did you know about? This show helps to educate people about some of the lesser known assignations.

    Sometimes entertainment is a good way to teach. None of these are still open wounds in the countries side. I'd have issues with a 9/11 musical, as we're still smarting from that. Or if they added a recent Presidential assassination to the cast. But the way this is done is respectful and educational.

  • @teenactorfan Ahahahahaha. Seriously, watch the show and then come back and say stuff like that. This is the most thoughtful musical, and the issues it raises deserve to be debated.

    Assassins is no glitzy song-and-dance romp, but a fully realized journey into the minds of the disenfranchised and mentally ill among us. It's historically accurate and heartbreakingly current questioning of the American dream is powerful beyond words.

    Remember, theater has always been used to tackle big topics.

  • @poetoffire I think my favorite part is the added song "Something Just Broke" It reflects the tragedy we all feel when we hear about the death of a president no matter who they were, how we felt...how we want it fixed, its a beautiful song, a perfect end to a wonderful show.

  • @teenactorfan Don't be so quick to judge it - there are many musicals based off of tragedies, such as Floyd Collins, Parade, and Titanic. They are all excellent shows.

    Assassins is a great piece of theatre - it is at points funny, thought-provoking, disturbing, and poignant, and it has a very well-written score (penned by probably the single most-respected composer/lyricist in theatre) and script.

  • @teenactorfan Look it is educational and shows the background of these people, making them more human. I am not saying what they did is right, but sometimes the history books forget to tell both sides, and makes it easy to condemn.

  • @teenactorfan you are wrong

    if u knew the musical properly it does not glorify the assassins but rather look into their motives and psychological health it is more a study than a gloryification

  • @teenactorfan it also turns the assassin's into people, instead of just a picture or a name or even a deed. it shows them to have deep psychological issues, and provides light onto why they did what they did. They all had reasons, however they went about their problems the wrong way.

  • My dad told me that Neil Patrick Harris was in Assassins (the re enactment thing anyway) and I immediatly put it on my iPod (my dad already had it on iTunes) 8D It is such an aweasome musical, I never realised how aweasome these assassins were =D

  • This is garish just really awful, the type of musical you could see a skit show spoofing.

  • fail

  • @skitsokity: first if Booth (Ballad of Booth). the second man (all in brown) is Leon Czolgosz (Ballad of Czolgosz/Gun Song). then Sara Jane Moore (Gun Song). fourth, Charles Guiteau (Ballad of Guiteau/Gun Song). then Giuseppe Zangara (How I Saved Roosevelt). then Samuel Byck (Have it Your Way). seventh, John Hinckley (Unworthy of Your Love). then Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme (Unworthy of Your Love), and finally Lee Harvey Oswald (Take a Look Lee)

  • Have seen this vid several times and am always mezmerised by the voice of the actor playing Booth then the blend he has with that deep bass who follows him. And the more Youtube vids I see of NPH the more I am convinced he is one of his generations best actors!!

  • @gramps2matt The actor playing Booth is Michael Cerveris...he's fantastic, he was also in the 2005 revival of Sweeney Todd and he won a Tony for Assassins.

  • We studied this show in ninth grade and I fell in love with it. We're trying to convince our theater group that we need to put it on.

  • can some one please help me figure out who is who, i know who plays booth and lee oswald, and the girls are easy to place, it just all of the other men, i need help placing their face with the character, (not the actors name but what they look like would greatly help me, Thanks!

  • also which song they sing, but if i have the name of the character with each actor's face who played that assassin, i could figure that out myself

  • It is a musical about why they shot the presidents

  • isn't that neil patrick harris

  • What is up with NPH's hair? LOL

  • Google a photo of Lee Harvey Oswald, who is is playing. That's what's up with his hair.

  • is that NPH

  • Yes, he played The Balleder and Lee Harvey Oswald.

  • I'm extremely new to this musical, and I've got a question. Is this first guy to sing John Wilkes Booth? He definetly has the right voice! If that is Booth, who is the actor playing him in this performance?

  • Well your not the only one to have not seen the show, but his deffinetly has to be playing John Wilkes Booth sense this show, (plus the show titel says it all, it's about assassins and it makes sense that they made Wilkes Booth be the star of the show and the first to sing because he was also an actor).

  • he's not the "lead" persay there really isn't a lead to the show he just had the first song because he was the first man to shoot a president. you need to listen the the whole thing its amazing

  • Thanks for your help. This song makes much more sense now! (@allisonthecat)

  • @hpsmteddi yep its Booth! the actor is Michael Ceveris. absolutely amazing :)

  • Yes, that's Booth. This is the Studio 54 cast from the 2004 Broadway Premiere (look up "Assassins (Musical)" on Wikipedia to see the entire cast. Niel Patrick Harris played Lee Harvey Oswald/the Narrator for that run.)

  • yet booth is the 1st person. he is played by michael cerveris

  • How they are dressed reminds me of characters from Clue

  • I didn't remember that Neil Patrick Harris was in this. Awesome!

  • Where was Marc! :'(

  • Second best musical in my opinion. First being Sweeney Todd.

    'Everybody's got the right to some sunshine..." 5/5

  • <3 NPH ftw.

  • "Everybody's got the right to some sunshine. Not the sun, but maybe one of its beams..."

    That line always, no pun intended, kills me with its simplicity and brilliance.

  • NPH! <3

  • Does anybody have clips from this Broadway production of Assasins? It looks interesting and the cast seems great but I can't find anything from the Broadway show.

  • ive been looking for some time now. the cast revival recording from 2004 is fantastic and i saw the show at my school.

  • i saw this at the West Chester University in Pennsylvania and i have been a huge fan ever since

  • wow, they work really well together.

  • I love this musical so much.

    :D

  • I love the cute little dance Zangara does. I just want to snuggle with him. And Booth. And Czolgosz. They can all assassinate me!

  • I agree wholeheartedly. I'm definitely going to hell for lusting after dead assassins. Especially Booth, hehe. O;]

  • Neil Patrick Harris!!!

  • Who's the character at 0:49? And which one's Leon Czolgolsz?

  • Leon Czolgolsz is the second person singing. He says, "If you keep your goal in site, you can climb to any height" He's played by James Barbour.

    Oh, and, the guy at 0:49 is Giuseppe Zangara. He's played by Jeffrey Kuhn. He was the attempted assassin of FDR. Though many people, including me, think he wasn't trying to kill FDR, but rather, Antone Cerveka, mayor of Chicago. Which he did.

  • Yes he did, but I don't think he was trying to kill Cermak. The reason why that happened was that people grabbed his arm and he fired shots wildly which hit others including Cermak.

  • True, but don't forget, Giuseppe Zangara was an accomplished marksman in the Italian army. Not with a pistol, but still, he wasn't that far away.

  • he disliked any of the politicians of the time, so he may have figured he'd get either man. but I agree, they penned it up to his height in missing FDR. He wanted to kill Hoover, nez pas?

  • Comment removed

  • Is that Mario Cantone as Sam Byck???

  • yes it is

  • mmhmmm! and he's amazing at it!

  • AMAZING PLAY

  • Ok, I thought so.

    I really love those couple of notes he sings in this song.

  • Is it Jeffrey Kuhn?

  • The actor yes...playing Giuseppe Zangara who tried to kill FDR

  • At 0:41 who is the character singing?

    I'm not to familiar with this show, and I love High soft tenor parts.

    haha

  • That character is Charles J. Guiteau, he killed President Garfield. Did you mean who is the actor singing? That, I'm not sure of.

  • it's denis o'hare

  • Comment removed

  • AHHHH!!!! doctor horrible is in there too!!!

  • I didnt even catch that until you said it!! great catch! =]

  • You know... it would be cool if this musical was made into an independent film, and they could show at it Comic-Con or Sundance or something.

  • I was thinking the same thing!

    The plot is completely unfilmable, but I still would love to see it.

  • I've just been cast as Zangara in this show and I can't wait!!

  • I'd be happy for the opportunity to play any of the characters - save for Zangara or the Balladeer, as I can't sing those parts...

  • i just saw this show...it was GREAT

    !!

  • Was this musical made into a movie? Also, who was the choreographer?

  • Nope. Never made into a movie. It'd probably be a bad idea for a movie, considering it's structure...

  • who plays the guy in the jeans and white t-shirt? he looks familiar

  • I hit remove instead of reply, yes its Neil Patrick Harris and he's playing Lee Harvey Oswald.

  • he's in 'how i met your mother'

  • And is awesome!! (He also has a fantastic voice - it's harder to tell on this clip, but check out Dr. Horrible, etc.)

  • Sorry - was trying to reply to the person commenting about NPH...

  • who is the guy in the santa suit?

  • Sameul Byck he tried to kill Nixen

  • why is he in a santa suit?

  • I'd suggest googling or wikiing him to learn more. Its a lot to go into here.

  • He protested in front of the White House wearing a Santa costume. In his actual assassination attempt, when he hijacked a plane, he was trying to crash an airplane into the White House (in which Nixon wasn't even there that day). It just helps with the identification, as the Santa outfit was widely distributed.

  • Does anyone know if this show is appropriate for High School students?

  • If your high school is okay with quite a few f-bombs

  • which can be edited out easily.

  • it is so moronic to simply say edit the expletives. Dont people understand that the author debated long and hard over which words to place in each characters mouth. Why do the play, if you believe your audience, in this day and age will be offended by a few choice words. I am not targeting any particular person with these remarks, as a director and actor I was taught to be true to the book and the director. This an excellent production, kudos to the company.

  • this is such an amazing show! anything by sondheim is bound to be gold!

  • this is one of the most unappreciated musicals ever. it is pure genius

  • @SpeakOut26 it did win best musical, so i doubt that it was THAT unappreciated

  • @SDVR007 no it didn't it won best musical revival

  • @AdamEfimoff

    tomayto, tomato

    the point is that it wasnt unappreciated at the tonys the year it was on broadway (revived, apperently)

  • now i cant remember, did Assassins win for best revival

  • yes. And best featured actor- Mike Cerveris

  • such a twisted, awesome musical.

  • This song wouldn't be out of place on Sesame Street.

  • Funny you should mention that. The bookwriter, John Weidman, was an accalimed writer for Sesame Street.

  • That's a funny piece of information. Thanks! I didn't know that.

  • This show is so "Twisted", but in a good/artistic way!

  • holy crap JONNY is Michael Cerveris

  • the first 2 seconds reminded me of "Rent"

  • Now don't start that again!

  • I wish Victor Gerber was still in the cast when they went to Broadway....

  • I wish the original cast had gone to Broadway...

    I wonder how it would've fared at the Tony Awards the first time?

  • Dude... This wasn't a transfer to Broadway...It was an entirely different production like ten years later... Oh and by the way..."Gerber"?

  • I saw this in Philadelphia and it was AMAZING.

  • Sondheim is such a badass.

  • Sondheim is such a badass.

  • It's weird seeing Cerveris with hair.

  • I know. Very weird.

  • Yeah I didn't even recognize Cerveris with hair. I'm used to seeing his shiny head hah.

  • I could only tell it's him by his singing and b/c I read other comments and all.

  • Or deathly pale in Sweeney Todd...

  • Go watch the "Tommy" vid thats up here now that is weird... and Mike's got hair.

  • which one is Michael Ceveris?

  • He's booth.

  • he is the one who sings first?

  • Yes.

  • o ok thanks!

  • No prob.

  • I love playing this song for people, and then right before the gunshot at the end I tell them, "Oh, yeah, this is being sung by the people who've killed a president."

    Their expressions are classic. XD

  • I'm gonna do that

  • Oh my goodness, I do that too!

  • What happened to the harmonies at the end? They're all singing the melody... in the original, they sing different parts...

  • If you listen closely, the voices aren't mixed equally. You can plainly hear Neil Patrick Harris over everyone else. The mens' voices block out the womens' voices which is why the harmonies aren't heard. Listen closely. They are there.

  • The Tony's always have the worst sound.

  • this song gives me chills at the end...

  • good point

    interesting way to say it

  • My school MARY D. BRADFORD did this musical under the direction of HOLLY STANFIELD, and did an amazing job with it awsome beyond belife... i was so proud of my friends who were casted

  • awesome. hopefully our school can do this but i doubt it lol

  • I doubt they would let any school do this.

  • You never know, there have been high schools that have done Sweeney.

    Is Assassins any worse than Sweeney? (Other than the political aspect of course?)

  • Sam Byck's monologues are filled with swearing.

    Fromme talks about "screwing" Charles Manson.

    Booth says the "n-word"

    Also, the show's format is ill-suited. Very little ensemble, predominantly male cast, small cast, etc.

  • You can edit stuff like that out, though. With Sweeney there's a bunch of killing and cannibalism. You can always skimp on the blood, but the content is still very mature.

    You've got a point about the ensemble. High schools have to make sure that everyone is included...which leads to only big productions. Blech, I'm so glad to be out of there.

  • True on the editing. For example, "crap" instead of "shit." But then you get into stuff about being true to the script, losing the power of words, artistic integrity, yadda yadda yadda.

    I think the biggest issue is the cast and ensemble stuff, more than anything else at all. I know what you mean. My high school did The Secret Garden last year, and we had, like, twenty Dreamers aside from Holmes, Claire, etc. who just sang in the background.

  • Ah, but high schools don't much care for "being true to the script," so yeah I think the ensemble thing is the biggest hurdle.

  • And you don't think the premise of "Why I shot the president." is mature content?

  • Well A:sweeney has always been a big show with a very involved chourus, so it would work quite well at a high school.

    and B: Assassins is way worse than sweeney. There's like ten f-bombs in the JFK sequence alone, plus Squeaky's half of "Unworthy of your love" is all about sex. I know this and i have only listened to the recordings and a couple of youtube vids Im sure that there is way more. Sweeney's only got two swear words in the entire show. In short, this makes sweeney look like mama mia

  • Actually, my high school did this show. We had to edit out the more extreme swearing, but aside from that, the rest of the script was kept intact. We were able to get away with a male-dominated cast because that year, there were very few girls in our theatre department. However, we made the proprietor a girl, and we had two balladers: one male, one female. And we made sure there was an even mix of guys and girls in the chorus.

    It's can be done in high school, depending on the circumstances.

  • A)I'm just suprised there weren't parents who wanted to lynch your drama teacher

    B)Dude that rocks! Ecxept (yes i know i spelled that wrong) for the proprietor thing. No offense all you ladies out there, but the proproetor should always be a bass. That feeling of "He's being so nice and yet somthing feels REALLY WEIRD!" is the whole awsomeness of his character and let's face it: Bass = Bad Guy!

    But otherwise that's prettey freakin' sweet!

  • Soooo intense. Soooo good.

  • I'd stab a nun in the heart for a chance to have seen this musical

  • wow. but i think i'd do the same. :D

  • I'd stab two for a chance to be IN it.

  • Technically, you'd have better chances getting in the show if you where to stab two presidents, but I would suggest taking that path.

  • Funny

  • I meant "would NOT suggest taking that path." oops

  • I loved this musical. Thanks for posting. I preferred the off-Broadway production. I wonder whether anyone has a clip.

  • How cool! What a bizarre concept, but it truly is a wonderful show!

  • i really wanted to see this. i've seen my friends do monologues from this when we do monologues in drama class. it's a rather twisted msuical eh?

  • A rather bizarre and rique show. An underappreciated gem of American theatre.

  • Yeah, "Take a Look, Lee" was the only final I've ever enjoyed!

  • THIS GAVE ME COMPLETE CHILLS!

  • Can someone tell me why the vids of the other songs have disappeared? I'm not getting my recommended daily dose of Assassins!!!

  • I'm guessing it was because those videos were illegal bootlegs? >_>

  • The Actors Equity Association objected to them. Gotta get them off of youtube. There is a CD of this cast though. :)

  • Thanks, I've been thinking of getting the cast album anyway. It's a bit disappainting that the videos are down though. It was great to actually see the actors performing.

  • Shove the spamming. >_>

  • Uhh... nobody was comparing Rent with Assassins. Someone just commented on the lighting. >_>

  • why not compare to sodenheim sure rent is good but doesn't mean u need to be a renthead and run around worshipping it and Hermoine is right the Season's of LOve in rent start with the same lighting scheme

  • I'm actually being the opposite, nothing in rent can measure to anything sondheim has written. the composition in rent is ok at best, it's not very complicated and lacks the knowledge and experience sondheim has. larson's lyrics also don't have the same though sondheim's does. the lighting scheme is similiar but ya...

  • thought*

  • i TOTALLY agree - Sondheim is a genius. I really don't get the facination with Rent. It's good - but its doesn't compare in brilliance to anything by Sondheim.

  • I agree. I think with Rent, it is about the emotion. I agree, Sondheim is much better, but Rent has it's good points.

  • First let me say this: Sondheim is the greatest composer ever and nothing else could ever hope to compare to his brilliance.

    That said RENT is awsome! I don't run around worshipping it but i know a good show when i see one. And a show doesnt have to be complicated to be good South Pacific sweeping the tonys proves that And of course it lacks the expierience of SS- it was written by a 20-something!

    BTW: Every week J. Larson sent SS tapes of what he was working on. He thought it was brilliant!