‘Assassins’ Gets an Injection of Money Via Broadway

The home-grown production of the Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman musical “Assassins” at Los Angeles Theatre Center has received an infusion of money from some of Broadway’s biggest producers.

As the 73-seat production prepares for a twice-delayed move to a 498-seat theater also within the LATC complex, the team that produced the Tony-winning “Passion,” Sondheim’s most recent musical, has agreed to provide part of the $250,000 necessary for the move. The team includes the Shubert Organization, Capital Cities/ABC and producers Roger Berlind and Scott Rudin.

Berlind, who has not yet seen the production, said the group chose to help out because “it’s extraordinary that ‘Assassins’ hasn’t had the opportunity to play to a larger audience in this major theater city.” He declined to say how much the investment was.

Sondheim, who is expected to see the production in early March, facilitated the contacts between the L.A. producer, Los Angeles Repertory Co., and the “Passion” group, Berlind said.

The involvement of New York producers raises the question of whether the production might eventually move to New York, where “Assassins” received mostly negative reviews in a 1991Off Broadway staging. (It was more successful in London in a 1992 production.) But Berlind said “it’s premature to bring it back. It will probably do better when a whole new (New York) audience has developed.”

“Assassins” director Peter Ellenstein said he and Los Angeles Repertory Co. have the rights to tour their L.A. production to San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver and Phoenix, but nothing has been set yet in any of those cities. San Jose Civic Light Opera presented the California professional premiere in January, 1993.

On Nov. 17, Ellenstein’s staging opened in LATC’s Theatre 4, where it remains, garnering wide acclaim. It was scheduled to move on Jan. 20 to LATC’s Tom Bradley Theatre, but the move was first postponed to Feb. 10 and again, last week, to March 10.

Ellenstein said the delays were not related to financing. The original transfer date was selected to make room for another L.A. Rep show, “Messiah,” in Theatre 4 (it too has been delayed) and also to take advantage of the publicity following the initial reviews. But these concerns were eventually overshadowed by the logistics of the restaging.