A new musical by Stephen Sondheim is usually met with rabid curiosity and excitement leading up to its opening, so in 1990 when the musical Assassins readied itself at Off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons, theatre fans couldn't wait to see the result. We were all more than ready to see how Mr. Sondheim would create songs for the disillusioned men and women who attempted (and sometimes succeeded) killing Presidents of the United States. John Weidman would provide a book that used the failed American Dream as the through line to bring these notorious character into the same world. With Jerry Zaks at the helm as director, and a cast that included a vast array of Broadway's finest talent (Victor Garber, Terrence Mann, Debra Monk, Annie Golden, Jonathan Hadary, Lee Wilkof among them) Assassins looked to be something unique in musical theatre terms. Everyone assumed it would be well-received and then transfer to Broadway where it would settle in for an artful but not particularly long run. It didn't.