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Wednesday, January 15, 2014

EDGY MUSICAL RUNS 6 PERFORMANCES ONLY @ HAMILTON STAGE IN RAHWAY

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ASSASSINS
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by John Weidman
Directed by Greg Scalera
Choreographed by Josh Schnetzer

WHEN: January 17-25, 8 PM; January 26, 2 PM
WHERE:
Hamilton Stage, 360 Hamilton Street, Rahway
TICKETS: $15 ($10 student/senior) and can be purchased online at www.ucpac.org, by phone at 732.499.8226 or the Union County Performing Arts Center box office at 1601 Irving Street, Rahway

Get ready for some seriously thought-provoking theatre when the curtains open on Assassins: A Musical. The Tony award-winning work by Stephen Sondheim & John Weidman has been acclaimed as one of the most creative works in the history of the American musical. As well as one of the edgiest and —unfortunately — still most timely.

Assassins: A Musical offers an incisive, startling, often bizarrely humorous glimpse into the lives of nine individuals who attempted to assassinate the President of the United States.

From John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald, Assassins bends the rules of time and space, taking the audience on a nightmarish roller coaster ride in which assassins and would-be assassins from different historical periods interact and inspire each other to commit harrowing acts in the name of the American Dream.

Previous Broadway casts have included Neil Patrick Harris, Dennis O’Hare, Debra Monk, Victor Garber and Lynnie Green.

The Hamilton Stage presentation features an 18-person cast drawn from a talented group of New Jersey actors known as Bullet Theatre Collaborative.

Featured as Assassins are Dusty Ballard (John Wilkes Booth), Tony Mowatt (Charles Guiteau), Kyle Bergslien (Leon Czolgosz), Jason Gillis (John Hinckley), Cara Ganski (Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme), Annie Rutherford Lutz (Sara Jane Moore), Daniel Gonzalez (Giuseppe Zangara), Zach McCullough (Samuel Byck) and Dave Seamon (Lee Harvey Oswald).

In addition to a live six-piece musical ensemble, Ben Regan, Ashley Kraus, Chris DeBono, Ariel Josephine Sheridan, James Dunn, Patrick Getty, Christine Danelson, Will Carey and Christine Sanders contribute roles as Emma Goldman, David Herold and various Presidents and Citizens.

“Assassins is not a show that provides pat answers, but one that puts questions into conversation,” says director Scalera. “These infamous characters don’t ask you to sympathize with their actions, or even to fully understand them. But they do ask you to hear their side of the story and will keep you on the edge of your seat while they tell it.”