Assassins at Hayes Theatre Co - Full Cast

Hayes Theatre Co has announced the remaining cast and creative team for their production of Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical Assassins to play for a limited season from September 15, directed by Dean Bryant (Little Shop of Horrors, Sweet Charity).

Joining the previously announced David Campbell (Dream Lover, Today Extra), for Hayes Theatre Co’s first Stephen Sondheim musical, Connor Crawford (The Sound of Music, City of Angels), Martin Crewes (Sweet Charity, Dr Zhivago) and Hannah Fredericksen (Dream Lover, Heathers) will be Laura Bunting (Calamity Jane, Rent) Kate Cole (Ladies in Black, Sweet Charity), Bobby Fox (Jersey Boys, High Society), Jason Kos (Cabaret, Miracle City), Rob McDougall (Les Misérables, Rob Guest Endowment finalist), and Justin Smith (The Detective's Handbook, Billy Elliott). Making his professional debut will be recent VCA graduate Maxwell Simon. 

Assassins combines Sondheim's signature blend of intelligently stunning lyrics and beautiful music with a panoramic story of the culture of celebrity and the violent means some will use to obtain it, embodied by America's four successful and five would-be presidential assassins. Bold, original, disturbing and alarmingly funny, Assassins is perhaps the most controversial musical ever written.

In a fairground shooting gallery a group of misfits gather. Each has a problem they need to solve and each has discovered the answer – they must shoot the President of the United States!

From John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald, we learn of the varied and unusual ways that each has committed (or attempted to commit) the ultimate crime; their motivations and their desire to be recognised for their actions in a world where they are largely dismissed and ignored. Assassins is a chilling and timely reminder that those in power ignore the poor and disenfranchised to their peril.

“Assassins is about a group of people with a diverse set of dreams and one vicious way to achieve them - to assassinate the President of the United States of America,” said director Dean Bryant. “What makes a citizen take up a gun and take out the most powerful man in their country? A documentary, black comedy, revue and tour through a hundred years of popular music, Assassins couldn't be more right for Australia now; a time when our newsfeeds are so flooded with US politics that we know more about their leaders than our own.”

Andrew Hallsworth and Andrew Worboys (Sweet Charity and Little Shop of Horrors)will reunite with Director Dean Bryant as Choreographer and Musical Director respectively. Steven Kreamer (Little Shop of Horrors, Rent) will be the Associate Musical Director. Alicia Clements (After Dinner, Ivanov) will be designing the sets and costumes, and Ross Graham (Little Shop of Horrors, Sweet Charity) will be returning from New York to design the lighting. Jack Daniel Woods (Calamity Jane, Rent) will be the Production Manager.

ASSASSINS

Presented by Hayes Theatre Co

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Book by John Weidman

Based on an idea by Charles Gilbert Jnr

Direction by Dean Bryant

Musical Direction by Andrew Worboys and Steven Kreamer

Choreography by Andrew Hallsworth

Set and Costume Design by Alicia Clements

Lighting Design by Ross Graham

Production Management by Jack Daniel Woods

Executive Produced by Lisa Campbell

Starring Laura Bunting, David Campbell, Kate Cole, Connor Crawford, Martin Crewes, Bobby Fox, Hannah Fredericksen, Jason Kos, Rob McDougall, Maxwell Simon and Justin Smith

Venue: Hayes Theatre Co, 19 Greenknowe Ave, Potts Point

Season: From September 15

Times: Mon 6:30pm, Tue-Sat 7.30pm, Wed & Sat 2pm

Run Time:  Approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes (no interval)

Patrons’ Advice:   Recommended for audience members 15 years and older

Bookings:  www.hayestheatre.com.au | (02) 8065 7337

This production is proudly sponsored by The Russell Mills Foundation.

Licensed exclusively by Music Theatre International (Australasia). All performance materials supplied by Hal Leonard Australia.

Image: David Campbell as John Wilkes Booth in Assassins - Photo by Johnny Diaz Nicolaidis, Artwork by Jeff van de Zandt