Theater Review : ‘Assassins’ ’ Problems Are Bigger Than Cypress

“Assassins” is one of Stephen Sondheim’s problem shows. Where “Sunday in the Park” and “Into the Woods” lacked valid second acts, “Assassins” can’t make up its mind what it wants to be.

With a generally sprightly but undistinguished score by Sondheim and a wandering libretto by John Weidman, it knows that it wants to say something about the men and women who have assassinated a president, or tried to.

The statement is valid, and a healthy view of the subject in that it uses humor, satire and a vaguely music-hall tone to tell us something about the pain, anger, skewed ambition and twisted sense of nobility that led the assassins to create their moment in history.

The confusion comes in whether “Assassins” wants to be a straight play or a cantata. It could be either. But in trying to be both, it becomes obvious what has kept the show from being more than a curiosity.

The cantata and play never seem to meet. In spite of the high energy of the cast at Cypress College, the solid, insightful direction of Kaleta Brown and the spirited musical direction by Mitchell Hanlon, and in spite of an inspired scenic design by Ivan E. Hess--using immense pistols, revolvers, rifles and assault weapons--Sondheim’s 1991 play can’t help but stumble over itself.

Brown has been wise not to use the descriptive slide projections called for in the script, avoiding the multimedia muddle that only amplifies the show’s problems. Outside of a few unnecessary blackouts to get the company on and off stage, she keeps the action moving forward steadily and brightly, and only lets the tempos slow to match the necessary rhythms of individual scenes.

The script’s cartoon style of detailing the adventures of Gerald Ford-era assassin wanna-bes Squeaky Fromme (Kelley Hartranft) and Sara Jane Moore (Jamie S. Bates)--funny and crazy as it is, and capable as the actresses are--suffers in comparison with the more naturalistic handling of the saga of John Wilkes Booth.

Booth (Darren C. Buckels) and the show’s guide-like Balladeer (Scott A) by themselves almost hold the show together. All the roles are sung well, but in these taxing roles, both actors sing with power and a rich understanding of the script’s demands and their characters’ special needs.

*

Outside of a limited appreciation of the music-hall shtick in his character, Richard DeVicariis is very good as the sleazy, disappointed office-seeker who shot President Garfield.

Mark M. Mikawa’s resonant voice adds stature to his portrait of the Leon Czolgosz, the William McKinley assassin whose taste for anarchy was fed by Laura Lossing’s too prim and proper Emma Goldman. Rafael J. Aparicio Jr. is also strong as Giuseppe Zangara, who attempted the assassination of the newly elected FDR.

A very touching moment is given a luminous reality by the treatment of the ballad duet “Unworthy of Your Love,” as a lyrical John Hinckley Jr. (James Freitas) sings achingly to Jodie Foster, and a momentarily becalmed Moore (Bates) echoes the sentiment to Charles Manson.

A dramatically interesting moment comes to life as Booth tries to persuade a wavering Lee Harvey Oswald (a strong Chip Boyd) to follow through on his plan to kill John Kennedy.

Despite an in-joke that has would-be Nixon assassin Samuel Byck (Howard R. Patterson) admonishing Leonard Bernstein for writing “all that classical (crap)” and urging him to write more love songs like “Tonight” and “Maria” from “West Side Story,” for which Sondheim was Bernstein’s lyricist, Patterson’s rambling performance in the rambling role doesn’t keep Byck from finally crash-diving.

* “Assassins,” Campus Theatre, Cypress College, 9200 Valley View St., Cypress. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m. Ends Sunday. $8. (714) 821-6320. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Scott A: Balladeer

Darren C. Buckels: John Wilkes Booth

Mark M. Mikawa: Leon Czolgosz

James Freitas: John Hinckley Jr.

Richard DeVicariis: Charles Guiteau

Howard R. Patterson: Samuel Byck

Rafael J. Aparicio Jr.: Giuseppe Zangara

Kelley Hartranft: Squeaky Fromme

Jamie S. Bates: Sara Jane Moore

Chip Boyd: Lee Harvey Oswald

A Cypress College Theatre and Dance Department production of the Sondheim/Weidman musical. Directed by Kaleta Brown. Musical direction: Mitchell Hanlon. Dance arrangements: Crystal Burden. Scenic design: Ivan E. Hess. Costume design: Diana Polsky. Lighting design: Robert Mumm. Sound design: David Smith. Stage manager: Darren Murdock.