Assassins

Assassins (1990)

This darkly satirical musical reframes American history through the eyes of those who attempted – successfully or not – to kill US presidents. Structured as a surreal carnival sideshow, the piece weaponises American musical traditions – vaudeville, folk ballads, barbershop quartets, patriotic Sousa-style marches and Bacharach pop – to undercut the myth of the “American Dream,” exposing how frustration, alienation and entitlement can curdle into violence. By giving voice to figures from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald, Assassins invites audiences not to condone their acts but to confront the unsettling continuity between personal disillusionment and national mythology, turning the musical stage into a mirror for America’s darkest obsessions.

Director: Jerry Zaks

Casts

	Patrick Cassidy as Balladeer
	Victor Garber as John Wilkes Booth
	William Parry Leon as Proprietor
	Terrence Mann as Leon Czolgosz
	Greg Germann as John Hinckley
	Jonathan Hadary as Charles Guiteau
	Eddie Korbich as Giuseppe Zangara
	Lee Wilkof as Samuel Byck
	Annie Golden as Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme
	Debra Monk as Sara Jane Moore
	Jace Alexander as Lee Harvey Oswald
	Marcus Olsen as David Herold
	Lyn Greene as Emma Goldman
	John Jellison as James Blaine
	William Parry as President James Garfield / President Gerald Ford
	Michael Shulman as Billy Moore

Crew