Assassins

Stephen Sondheim, lyricist and composer extraordinaire, created art transcending the limitations of the musical with works like West Side Story and Sweeny Todd, provides a dark look into America's obsession with guns with a musical titled Assassins as said work, explains, in exquisite detail, why guns are so irresistible as the weapon of choice in killing presidents Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy.  Luckily, T. Roosevelt and Reagan survived.

Move your little finger and

  You can change the world

  Why should you be blue when

  You've your little finger

  Prove how just a little finger can

  Change the world

Backgrounder ...

One of his lesser-known works, “Assassins,” just started a new run off-Broadway by the Classic Stage Company. Originally produced in 1990, the musical is a collective biography of the historical figures who attempted to assassinate U.S. presidents, four of them successfully. Nine of the 13 assassins or would-be assassins are included, from John Wilkes Booth, who killed Abraham Lincoln, to John Hinckley, Jr., who shot Ronald Reagan in 1984.

These malcontents hardly seem like promising subjects for a musical. But Sondheim brilliantly deployed musical theater to explore America’s curious fascination with firearms and the pivotal role of assassinations in the republic’s history.

To Sondheim, assassins, like everybody else, are in pursuit of the American dream. As they battle delusions, fight against perceived political injustice, long for celebrity or seek community, they turn to guns to accomplish their goals. His score consists of uniquely American musical styles drawn from different periods of U.S. history, including ragtime, patriotic marches and folk ballads.

Sondheim c 1976