The Show Must Go On! (Unless It’s ‘Assassins’)

When is a show not a show? When it is L.A. Repertory’s production of “Assassins,” in which we have an example of a show that is more of a “no show.”

The saga of “Assass” travails in attempting to move to a larger venue at the Los Angeles Theatre Center has been well documented. Those seeking to attend this seldom produced but highly acclaimed (at least abroad) Stephen Sondheim musical were made to endure not one, not two but three reschedulings of opening night. A financial backer who suddenly “pulled out” was the reason finally given as the cause of all this confusion and ill-will. Nevertheless, “Assassins” was finally able to make the move and I, among presumably many others, was finally able to look forward to the pleasure of seeing this rare musical.

Not so fast. . . .

It seems that for the week preceding Easter, not enough tickets had been sold to warrant actually holding the performances. Not no tickets mind you, merely “not enough” tickets. So, for the fourth (and, in my case at least, assuredly the last ) time a performance for which I held tickets was summarily canceled.

We all know the hoary old cliche “The show must go on!” and its poorer but more specific cousin “ Lear has been announced and Lear will be played!” But cliches are cliches for a reason. In this instance, they speak to a tradition as old as Theater itself that, in spite of personal tragedy and hardship, in spite of obstacles physical, fiscal or emotional, in spite of virtually any consideration imposed or inflicted by the outside world, the play must be played.

We are not so naive as to fail to realize that finances are a dominant consideration in this society where funding for the arts takes a back seat to gearing up defenses for an enemy that no longer exists; where private funding more and more often takes the form of donations in a jar by the door; where entities as great as PBS and as obscure as the loneliest performance artists are in danger of being fiscally “Newt-ered.”

But good will is also a consideration. So too is a solid base of ongoing support and loyalty to an artistic ideal. All of these ethos and concepts were laid low by L.A. Repertory’s decision to pull the plug on a week’s worth of performances because not enough tickets had been pre-sold. In the name of short-term gain, they have created enmity and ill will in a potential audience that will forevermore treat their announcements of future productions with skepticism and distrust.

I hope that out of this deplorable situation comes a realization by other artistic groups that, without an audience, theater cannot exist and thrive. If you teach your audience that you care not for them, they in turn will care not for you. When this cycle occurs, theater’s artistic vision and potential will truly be killed--by “Assassins” from within.