Assassins: Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Tony award winning 1990 musical, based on Charles Gilbert Jr.'s concept, explores the lives of the men and women who have attempted to assassinate an American president. In a revue setup with musical styles appropriate to each character's era, the musical is set in a fairground shooting gallery where The Proprietor operates a murderous carnival game. The Proprietor opens the show by providing each historical character with his or her weapons. While the characters, both historical and fictional, weave into each other's lives to convince themselves of the personal and political need to kill a president, The Balladeer narrates each assassination story.
