Ethan Slater

Ethan Slater to join cast of Assassins at Classic Stage Company

The Off-Broadway revival of Sondheim's Assassins is expected to begin performances at Classic Stage Company on April 2, 2020.

Tom Millward
Tom Millward

Tony Award nominee Ethan Slater has been cast in Classic Stage Company's star-studded Off-Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's cult favorite Assassins, which is expected to run at CSC's Lynn F. Angelson Theater from April 2 through May 17, 2020, with an official opening set for April 16.

Slater, who will play Lee Harvey Oswald/The Balladeer at CSC, shot to fame after originating the titular role in SpongeBob SquarePants on Broadway in the fall of 2017, receiving his Theatre World Award, winning his first Drama Desk Award and earning his first Tony Award nomination in 2018. Recently he appeared as Joel Grey in the award-winning FX series "Fosse/Verdon" and reprised his Tony-nominated role in "The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!" on Nickelodeon on December 7, 2019.

He joins previously announced cast members Adam Chanler-Berat (as John Hinckley, Jr.), Tavi Gevinson (as Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme), Tony Award nominee Andy Grotelueschen (as Samuel Byck), four-time Tony Award nominee Judy Kuhn (as Sara Jane Moore), Steven Pasquale (as John Wilkes Booth), Tony Award nominee Will Swenson (as Charles Guiteau), Wesley Taylor (as Giuseppe Zangara), and three-time Tony Award nominee Brandon Uranowitz (as Leon Czolgosz).

Additional casting will be announced in the coming months.

Synopsis: "A journey through the dark side of the American dream, Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Tony-winning musical Assassins explores the lives of nine men and women who either killed (or tried to kill) one of the Presidents of the United States. From John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald and beyond, the stories of our country's most successful and would-be assassins intersect in unexpected ways, creating a powerful, yet unnervingly funny look at some of the most shocking moments in US history."

Assassins originally premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 1990, and was then staged at the Donmar Warehouse in London in 1992. Roundabout Theatre Company's 2004 Broadway premiere production at Studio 54 would finally take home a total of five Tony Awards, including "Best Revival of a Musical."

Marking Stephen Sondheim's 90th Birthday year, this production of Assassins is helmed by Classic Stage Company Artistic Director John Doyle as the third in his trilogy of Sondheim/Weidman collaborations, following Road Show (2008 at the Public Theater and 2011 at London's Menier Chocolate Factory) and 2017's Pacific Overtures (also at CSC).

Originally published on

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