Auditions Open to Stanford Students

Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM | Book by JOHN WEIDMAN
Directed by TAPS PhD Alum Karina Gutiérrez

A satirical combination of historical accuracy and creative interpretation, Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Assassins is a bold, incisive, and kaleidoscopic musical theatre experience that examines the possible motives and the growing political fanaticism of nine individuals who attempted to or successfully killed an American President. This musical semi-revue frequently blends American folk, pop, and ceremonial music across multiple depicted eras with broader traditional “patriotic” American music to produce a delightfully dark musical that gives voice to each assassin’s hopes, fears, and furies. Blurring barriers of time and space, the likes of John Wilks Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Emma Goldman (to name a few) take center stage to commiserate with one another and audiences alike. But while each figure may quickly be relegated as an outcast by popular narrative, this piece powerfully suggests that the line between principle and fanaticism is thinner than we may be willing to admit.