Rider musical theatre presents 'Assassins' Feb. 27-March 3

Rider University’s program in musical theatre presents Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s musical Assassins Feb. 27 through March 3 in the Yvonne Theatre on the Rider University campus in Lawrenceville.

Louis F. Goldberg is the stage and musical director, and Lisa Twamley is the choreographer. The preview performance is Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m. Performances are Thursday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, March 2, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 3, at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for students and seniors. They can be purchased online at www.rider.edu/arts or by calling 609-896-7775. General admission preview tickets are $9 for adults and $5 for students and seniors and are only available at the door. For more information, visit www.rider.edu/arts.

Assassins explores the lives of the nine individuals who have tried to assassinate or succeeded in assassinating a president of the United States. Perhaps the most controversial musical ever written, Assassins is bold, disturbing, wildly entertaining and very funny. Please note that some material may not be suitable for young audiences.

“Assassins is a complex, dense, and in every moment intriguing script and score,” says Goldberg. “Nine assassins from different historical eras encounter each other in a variety of unusual situations. The piece provides much interesting perspectives on the state of the American dream as it exists in the 21st century. It has provided marvelous, complicated challenges for our theatre students and we have all enjoyed the opportunity to dive deeply into this fascinating material.”

Louis F. Goldberg is a member of the musical theatre faculty at Rider University. While at Rider, Goldberg has directed Brecht’s The Good Person of Setzuan and the musical revue Cole. He has served as music director for The Theory of Relativity, Once on This Island, White Christmas, A Little Night Music, Merrily We Roll Along, The Full Monty, The Wedding Singer, The Light in the Piazza and Rent.

Goldberg has conducted more than 300 musicals across the United States and Europe, including tours of Man of La Mancha, Cabaret, Chicago and 42nd Street. His major regional theatre work includes shows at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre, Wilma Theatre and Prince Music Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Cleveland Playhouse and Florida Repertory Theatre. Recent projects include Man of La Mancha for the Princeton Festival, Showtune: The Songs of Jerry Herman at the Philadelphia Seaport Museum and off-Broadway at the York Theatre playing Ted Shapiro in Red Hot Mama: The Sophie Tucker Songbook.

Choreographer Lisa Twamley is a graduate of The College of New Jersey. Twamley was on the faculty of the Fine and Performing Arts Curriculum’s dance program at Howell High School for 34 years where she taught ballet, jazz, movement for the actor and musical theatre until her retirement last June. She was one of the founding members of the program.

Twamley has choreographed more than 75 shows, including productions of Catch Me If You Can, Singing in the Rain, West Side Story and Crazy for You. She has received two Basie Awards and two Papermill Rising Star Awards for “Outstanding Choreography” of these productions. Twamley has also taught at The College of New Jersey, Mercer County College and Hunter College. She was supervisor of the dance program of the Governor’s School of the Arts where she taught both dance and theater scholars.