Stephen Sondheim’s “Assassins” is not your typical musical. It’s not even a typical Sondheim musical. And that’s saying a lot. But, produced by the Oakland Theater Project as a one-person show, starring Adam KuveNiemann in a bravura performance, “Assassins” is something special to see. On a bare stage, with clever use of mirrors, microphones, tapes, digital recorders, lighting, a laptop, and a ladder, director Weston Scott has created a unique performance.
“Assassins” has been rarely produced since its 1990 off-Broadway opening. Most audiences don’t want to see a review of every assassination or attempted assassination of US presidents. And it strikes me that there have been way too many of them.
But Sondheim and the book writer, John Weidman, have created a clever but unsettling form of “entertainment,” especially in our disquieting times. The musical play delves into the rationale for each assassin’s act as we learn a bit about their psyches, mental health, and motivations. Some have killed for love, some for politics, and, as “Assassins” surmises, one for bad reviews.
Amazingly, Adam KuveNiemann (“Ironbound,” “Exodus to Eden”) successfully portrays every killer as he sings and travels about the stage in constant motion. He finds and uses props to act out each murder.
John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald get the most time and attention. Still, no one is omitted, not even the unsuccessful ones, like Samuel Byck, who attempted to hijack a plane (1974) and crash it into the White House in the hopes of killing Richard Nixon, and Giuseppe Zangara, who shot at FDR (1933). He missed him but murdered the mayor of Chicago.
We see steelworker and anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoot President William McKinley (1901), and Charles Guiteau kill James Garfield (1881) because he thought he should be ambassador to France. John Hinckley Jr. misses Ronald Reagan over the love of Jodie Foster. Lynette Squeaky Fromme and Sara Jane Moore made separate attempts, three weeks apart, to kill Gerald Ford (1975).
Although Adam KuveNiemann’s singing voice is melodic and powerful, without orchestration and a chorus, it can be difficult to grasp the lyrics’ import. And then there is the slight monotony problem, where the distinctness of the tunes gets lost amid the nearly two-hour nonstop razzle-dazzle. But these are small quibbles when seen in light of an amazing performance of a rarely produced Sondheim play. It’s typical of the Oakland Theater Project to present a play like “Assassins,” an innovative, arresting production, on a shoestring budget at modest ticket prices.
“Assassins” is playing only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through April 5, 2026, at The Flax Building, 1501 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland.
By Emily S. Mendel
© Emily S. Mendel 2026 All Rights Reserved
