American Motifs In John Weidman's Assassins

Assassins, a twisted musical uncovering the American dream gone terribly wrong, was written by John Weidman with music and lyrics by Steven Sondheim in 1990. Twenty-five years later, director Jamie Lloyd and the Menier Chocolate Factory give new life to the production by elevating it from a purely American motif to an internationally relevant message about the nightmarish entitlement that leads some to act from a place of evil. The plot follows thirteen characters motivated by themes such as politics, love, desperation, depression, and invisibility as they carry out plans to assassinate presidents of the United States and share their stories with one another. Aided by entrancing music and lyrics from Sondheim, moody lighting design by Neil Austin and suggestive set design by Soutra Gilmour, the audience members get lost in a …show more content…
For example, the carefully manufactured presidential images reduce each one to a meaningless caricature without emotional importance, echoing Giuseppe Zangara’s sentiment that “I no care who I kill, long as it’s king!” Presidents in the scenes were basically a stand-in for any person in the ruling class, from tyrants to kings. The first spotting of a president was nothing more than the clown-faced proprietor wearing an obviously fake beard and top hat. The impersonal costume helped to maintain a focus on the complicated tales of the assassins instead of toward the remembrance of a beloved American figure. Throughout the show, historical images were minimized even down to the pouring red confetti after the final assassination takes place. Though the confetti harkens to an American celebration in which red, white, and blue confetti falls in large quantities from above, the reduced color scheme keeps it accessible to