Assassins--2004 Broadway Cast Album

With the recent release from prison of Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme it seems as good a time as any to dig into the stack of albums waiting for my Thinking and put Sondheim's Assassins on the player.

This is the only Broadway cast album of this show, because the original 1990 incarnation was produced by Playwrights Horizons and never produced on Broadway, although that cast was recorded.

I have heard bits and pieces of this show before--I have a vague recollection of a video clip of Patrick Cassidy (from the Playwrights production) singing "The Ballad of Booth"--but that was all I knew of the show. Given that musical snippet I was hoping for a show with some pastiche musical styles fitting the eras of the various assassins, and while there is quite a bit of that, there was not enough to keep my ears riveted.

Neil Patrick Harris is the vocal stand-out of this vocally good cast. Besides singing more than anyone as he portrayed both the Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald, NPH has the right vocal tone to sing Sondheim's music well. By that I mean he has a lightish, forward-placed voice that can hopscotch around the turns in Sondheim's melodies.

My problem with this show is probably more thematic than musical; I don't find the exploration of the mind of a killer to be interesting. At first I thought the show was exploring how Presidential assassins are really just footnotes to history, but the end of the show with Lee Harvey Oswald and the reprise of the opening "Everybody's Got a Right" were too creepy for that interpretation. Whether you believe guns kill people or people kill people, there are lots of both on display.

This is the first appearance of one of my favorite actresses, though, Becky Ann Baker. I've never seen Ms. Baker live (and don't actually know if she's been in other musicals besides this production), but I loved, Loved, LOVED her in the television series Freaks and Geeks from the late 1990s. The whole series is one of my favs, but I digress...

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by John Weidman
Originally produced in 1990
Opened on Broadway in 2004
This cast: Neil Patrick Harris, Becky Ann Baker, Michael Cerveris, Marc Kudisch, Denis O'Hare, Mario Cantone

The Gondoliers--opera stage performance filmed for television

My search for a good Gilbert and Sullivan production continues, but this presentation by the Australian Opera in the Sydney Opera house filmed for television by ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) has come closer than many of my forays into G & S. The primary aspect to enjoy in this production is the singing voices, which are all first-rate. Unfortunately, the recorded sound quality is very poor and makes it hard to understand much of the lyrics or truly appreciate the singing. The other production values are high-quality, particularly the costumes.

You know there is a but coming, and here it is. I don't like interpolation of modern lyrics into G&S. I realize that the original text poked fun at political and social items of the day, and there is a school of thought that to get across the nature of the song, you need to update those references to today. Well, my blue rinse is showing, but I like my operetta without references to Mick Jagger or the British Royal family.

I also don't approve of casting a man as the Duchess of Plaza-Toro. There are always fewer roles for women in theater and opera, why deny yet another role for a woman?

There is a ton of dancing in this production, and most of it done by the primary cast. I was surprised how well and how energetically it was performed, particularly by singers. The prime example is baritone Roger Lemke as Giuseppe. I liked his voice very much and he does some very athletic moves. Ooh, I just looked him up on imdb.com and Lemke was in Baz Luhrman's La Boheme. I'm off with a new obsession.

The Gondoliers
Music by Sullivan
Lyrics by Gilbert
Produced by the Australian Opera in 1990
Cast: Roger Lemke, Robert Gard, Graeme Ewer, David Hobson, Christine Douglas, Dennis Olsen, Fiona M, Susan Johnston, Fiona Maconaghie, Martin Croft