Music Box Musicals opens 2012 Season with Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Assassins’

Music Box Musicals’ first production in its inaugural 2012-2013 Season is the Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman Tony Award-winning musical “Assassins.” The show, which runs from Oct. 19 through Nov. 11, 2012, at The Music Box Theater, is co-directed by Founding Artistic Director Michael J. Ross and Kristina Sullivan.

Ross, who is director and also in the production’s cast, believes “Assassins” represents an ideal opportunity to introduce his vision for Music Box Musicals to the Houston community.
“Our approach to “Assassins” will be very intimate and theatrical. We’ll use the entire stage and seating areas of The Music Box Theater as playing space for the actors. This way, we completely engage the audience by literally putting them in the middle of the storytelling. That’s the kind of theatre I love creating and look forwarding to bringing to the Houston community,” Ross said.
“This is not a story about people trying to assassinate Presidents. Instead, it’s a story about the need in each of us to connect, to belong to something greater than ourselves,” he explained. “Ultimately, the play cautions us about what we’re capable of doing if we have no way of expressing ourselves—if we feel that we are of no value or that society has completely dismissed us. In the end, it reminds us of the importance of listening – a message I believe our country desperately needs to be reminded of in our current political climate.”
Join Music Box Musicals for a darkly-comic and compelling look at the lives, loves and legacies of nine presidential assassins. A warped and tuneful tour through history, Sondheim’s “Assassins” explores the dark underbelly of the American dream.
“Assassins” opened off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons on Dec. 18, 1990, with 73 performances. The run sold out, but didn’t make it to Broadway until April 22, 2004. The production received 5 Tony Awards, including Best Musical Revival.

“Assassins” cast includes (top row from left) Brad Scarborough, Eric Schell and John Gremillion; (second row from left) Michael J. Ross, Braden Hunt, Eric Ferguson and Cay Taylor; and first row (from left) Rebekah Dahl and Luke Wrobel.