It's the book by John Weidman that really makes this very long one-act into a piece of theater. Stephen Sondheim's music doesn't break any new ground, although he channels John Philip Sousa to write a rousing sextet in "How I Saved Roosevelt." The sentiments of "Everybody's Got the Right" (to be happy) feels a little too glib, like a slogan for a T-shirt (and it is, on sale in the lobby). "Another National Anthem" wants to be an anti-anthem, but doesn't carry its own ironic weight.

Some of the dialogue sections, however, are top-notch, first among them the comic relief sections between Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme (Mary Catherine Garrison) and Sara Jane Moore (Becky Ann Baker), failed killers of Gerald Ford. Sara employs a novel approach to disciplining screaming children, and then shares a joint with "Squeaky."

James Barbour brings a towering dignity to Leon Czolgosz, successful killer of William McKinley.

The radicalization of the earnest patriot Balladeer (Neil Patrick Harris), who transforms into Lee Harvey Oswald, is positively chilling.

Robert Brill has designed a set dominated by a rickety colonnade under which eight of the nine assassins sit once they've retired from the playing field. Once they're seated, their faces are lit by uplights through the deck. These same lights (designed by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer), gelled red and assisted by a dollop of theatrical smoke, help provide the fire effect for John Wilkes Booth's burning barn. Paul Gemignani's band takes up the two boxes from Studio 54's previous incarnation as a theater.

When the assassins brandish their guns and point them directly at the audience, breaking one of theater's taboos, it's a menacing, threatening moment. But somehow the rest of the evening doesn't pack the same punch.

posted: 10:43:37 PM  

I received a version of the chain letter that purports to be a rambling commentary by Rush Limbaugh on compensation of the September 11 victims, death benefits to armed forces personnel, and Social Security benefits to retired members of Congress. I was suprised to get the message, since I got it from someone who isn't generally prone to forwarding nonsense. While most of the tone of the letter is Rushian, there are apparently other versions circulating without his attribution.

According to snopes.com, the figures cited in the section of the letter that deal with death compensation are accurate, but not the complete story, while the claim that Representatives and Senators don't pay into the Social Security fund is just wrong.

posted: 9:30:23 AM