Cassidy breathes life into ‘Assassins’

Cassidy breathes life into ‘Assassins’

Adrenaline-charged role in Sondheim’s musical inspires actor

By Jennifer Richmond

Daily Bruin Staff

Stephen Sondheim. The renowned composer and lyricist, best known
for his musicals "Sweeney Todd" and "Into the Woods," has an
affinity for the bizarre and twisted.

Patrick Cassidy, the brother of David Cassidy ("The Partridge
Family"), loves Sondheim for this very reason. He knows plenty of
the composer’s work and even acted in "Company" last spring. But it
wasn’t until four years ago that he finally got the chance to work
with the master himself in his newest musical, "Assassins."

Originating the role of the Balladeer Off-Broadway, Cassidy
explains over a toasted bagel and café latté how he got
to work on Sondheim’s musical about infamous presidential assassins
and the wanna-bes that followed them.

"Getting to work with Mr. Sondheim was beyond extraordinary.
Every actor should be so lucky to originate a Sondheim show,"
Cassidy explains. "But more importantly to work with him on a
one-on-one basis and have him tell you about why he wrote music and
lyrics a certain way; to be able to collaborate with someone like
that is just tremendous."

Although Cassidy loved working on both the show and his
character, he chose to leave the production when his contract was
up. "I had done this part and I’d gotten everything out of it that
I wanted to," he says.

But that wasn’t the last Cassidy saw of the show. A few years
later he was at his choreographer’s house and he heard that the
actor playing the Balladeer was sick. So, "swallowing both boots I
said ‘I can do it.’ I hadn’t done (the part) in three years."

That didn’t stop Cassidy, though. In the span of one hour he
managed to relearn all the songs and the blocking for the show.

"I never got through one number completely during the rehearsal
process. I just went over them and went on. Saying that I was
winging it is beyond an understatement. I mean, I really threw
myself into the role and it went beautifully. It was really
exciting for me and gave me the adrenaline rush I wanted out of
it."

Because he gave such a grand performance, the director asked him
to stay on, but he turned him down because he "really didn’t want
to do this part" again. So, he left and got a call a few months
later asking him if he wanted to play the role of President
Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

He jumped at the chance.

"It’s a tremendous acting part," Cassidy explains. And the two
roles are completely different. The Balladeer just sings, where as
the role of Booth allows the actor to both sing and act. "The scene
with Oswald at the end is really the reason I decided to do it," he
says. "It’s such a well written scene, it’s a great scene to
act."

The scene Cassidy speaks of, puts a new twist on the theory
behind the JFK shooting. Instead of some government scheme,
Sondheim decides to play out a fantasy in which Booth appears and
is the one who convinces Oswald to pull the trigger.

And it’s all because of Sondheim and his "very different show,"
that Cassidy had this experience. That’s what pulls Cassidy toward
this master of musical theater; his bizarre storylines.

"He looks at the dark," Cassidy explains. "And he shows you
light in the dark, but he likes the darker elements of society and
of politics, and, I think, of everything. That’s why you won’t see
him writing the conventional musical comedy, it’s not his style;
which I find interesting because it makes people think."

It’s for this reason that Cassidy strongly believes Sondheim
will "no doubt go down as the William Shakespeare of musical
theater.

"He’s at that now," Cassidy stresses. "I think that every other
composer, every one would like to be him; would like to have the
reputation he has."

Cassidy even believes famous composer Andrew Lloyd Webber longs
to be Sondheim. "God knows Webber is successful. He appeals to the
masses and I actually like some of his shows ­ a lot." But
he’s different. "I think that Stephen (Sondheim) is in a league all
alone."

The biggest difference that Cassidy notices is what’s important
to these two composers. While Webber relies on multi-million dollar
sets, Sondheim relies on story.

"You have these mega-musicals, these gigantic spectacles where
the set is more prominent than what the story is about. It’s all
about ‘How am I going to dazzle an audience?’ Because the audience
has to spend $60 a ticket, so they better be dazzled and they’re
not going to be dazzled by hearing an actor speak beautiful
language or sing a beautiful ballad, so we have to make a big
spectacle.

"That’s why Stephen Sondheim is Stephen Sondheim. I don’t
perceive there ever being anybody like him. He writes what he wants
to write," he continues. "He keeps his musicals about the words and
what he’s saying and to me that’s gold. You can’t find that any
where else in this business."

This is why Cassidy would work with him again in a snap.

"I would give up my salary to work with him again. It’s honestly
true. He was that good to me, the total experience was that good
for me," Cassidy says. "Every episode from rehearsing the show to
doing the album, my association with Stephen Sondheim has been
nothing but wonderful and I bless him for that."

STAGE: "Assassins." Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim,
starring Patrick Cassidy. Running through April 23 at the Los
Angeles Theater Center. For more info call (213) 466-1767.