December 1990: The show begins an all-star, off-Broadway run that's expected to transfer to Broadway (like all of Stephen Sondheim's shows to that point). But poor reviews, often attributed to its timing during the Gulf War, prevent it from going anywhere.
October 1992: Eventual Oscar and Tony winner Sam Mendes breathes life into the show with a London production that features a new song Mendes asked Sondheim to write, "Something Just Broke."
October 1993: Show opens at St. Paul's History Theatre in what is apparently only the second U.S. regional staging. Star Tribune critic Mike Steele calls it "a splendid production" with one of Sondheim's "finest, most accessible scores," but "an intransigently terrible book."
November 2001: Its reputation having grown, "Assassins" is scheduled to open on Broadway under the direction of Joe Mantello, until the 9/ 11 attacks again make it an awkward fit with the tenor of the times.
April 2004: Mantello's staging opens on Broadway, winning five Tony awards.
February 2018: "Assassins" returns to the Twin Cities.
