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

Titanic--Original Broadway Cast album on CD

This show really reminds me of Ragtime for some reason. I think it might be the historical setting of the show, the range of social and economic levels it tries to portrays and the fluidity with which both shows move from setting to setting--very film-like. While I generally liked, Ragtime, however, Titanic left me a little cold.

The opening is very well constructed, introducing us in succession to the crew and each class of passengers, and building into a climax as the ship sets sail (do you still call it that when there is no actual sail?). From then on, however, the score and the characters left me flat.

One wonderful discovery is the singing of Brian d'Arcy James, who had not appeared as yet in my Year, but who has a wonderful voice. Mr. James has loads of Broadway credits (including the current Shrek), so I hope to squeeze him into my Year again before the 12 months end on May 31.

Titanic
Music and lyrics by Maury Yeston
Book by Peter Stone
Opened in 1997
Cast: Brian D'Arcy James, Martin Moran, John Cunningham, Ted Sperling, Allan Corduner, Michael Cerveris