Written by orange• June 10, 2025• 1:55 am• Musical, Review, Santa Ana, Santa Ana College, Uncategorized

Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins @ Santa Ana College – Review

Photos taken by Carin Jacobs.

Written by Patrick Chavis

Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins is playing now at Santa Ana College, June 6 – 8, 2025.

This updated version of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, directed by Kevin Slay, aims at our country’s glorification of guns and its embedded place in our culture. In addition to the updates, Santa Ana College’s Assassins features terrific acting and thoughtful staging.

Assassins was a controversial musical when it arrived, and it’s still contentious as gun violence remains a big issue in the United States. The play typically set in a shooting gallery, but this production makes it look more like either a gun shop or a gun show, and they sing about why they need to assassinate the president.

Story:

It’s pretty surreal that John Wilkes Booth, the man who killed Abraham Lincoln, would be in the same place as John Hinckley, the man who tried to kill Ronald Reagan. Still, in Assassins, we get to see what these people would talk about if they ever met and what they have in common, with decades of life between them: both are American, and both are in a culture where violence is common and intrinsically a part of the history. This show is chock-full of memorable tunes. I find myself humming along to “Unworthy of Your Love” way too often, but it’s a catchy tune. Ironically, I am a big fan of “Jodie Foster” but not in that way.

Some highlights of the night for sure: “Gun Song,” “Another National Anthem,” and “Everybody’s Got the Right.”

Music Director Diane King Vann and her six-piece ensemble were obviously on the ball that night: Jeff Askew, Anthony Barbarotta, Scott Cokely, 2024 OCR Best Live Band Winner Julian Rymar, Will Vargas, and, of course, Diane King Vann.

Acting:

Aerowyn Jones plays (Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme) one of the Manson girls with a youthfulness and a tragic but unstable demeanor, comedic gold, with impeccable vocals.

In full Santa, garb DJ Clancy provides the necessary disgruntled gravitas of Samuel Byck in his driving monologue.

A high caliber performance from May Woodrow (John Wilkes Booth), from their southern drawl to the well-suited costume/hair design by Kara McLeod.

Projection designers Caleb J. Leal and Kevin Slay did excellent work, with the topical video on both sides of the stage. The video was clear and well displayed, and the sound design was effective without being distracting.

The red, white, and blue of our American flag is shown all over the stage in many different and creative variations, from the guns to the stripes on the back of the walls, highlighting the profound metaphor in this play.

Are there inconsistencies vocally? Yes, but never to a disparaging degree.

This musical about criminals has a criminally short run. If you have a chance, give Assassins a shot, pun intended.