I saw Assassins last night at the Signature, and it was fabulous. I was particularly blown away (ba-dum-CHING!) by the portrayal of John Wilkes Booth. He was very much the way I imagine Booth, the man, to be--handsome, charming, and slightly unnerving. Completely riveting performance. (Also, loved when Sarah Jane Moore was fumbling around and shoved her sodas and chicken at him--what's more fun than John Wilkes Booth disgustedly holding junk food?) I also loved the staging; instead of the more traditional fairgrounds, or even the train station setting from the version earlier this year, they chose to stage it in such a way to reflect on the audience. It was intriguing. The ending was fairly disturbing, but worked with how they chose to stage the production.
So now I'm a bit smitten with Mr. Booth. He was hot, yo. And it wasn't like the real Booth was fighting off women with a stick, either. (Handsome! Charming!) It doesn't help that I'm sort of immersed in Booth lately; I'm in the middle of reading Manhunt, which is about the search for Booth after he assassinated Lincoln. Fascinating book and a quick read; I'm almost 200 pages in and just started on Tuesday. Anyway, this Booth thing goes right up there with my minor thing for Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar a few years back. As in, not totally healthy. Ah well.
If there's one thing you can count on with me, it's that I'll soon enough find another musical to obsess over.
Current song in my head:
"The Ballad of Booth" from Assassins