Synopsis
This synopsis reflects the current licensed version of the show. The published script of the 1992 Off-Broadway production is slightly different.
The show opens in a fairground shooting gallery where human figures trundle past on a conveyor belt. One by one, a collection of misfits enters, where the Proprietor of the game entices them to play, promising that their problems will be solved by killing a president ("Everybody’s Got the Right"). Leon Czolgosz, John Hinckley, Charles Guiteau, Giuseppe Zangara, Samuel Byck, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, and Sara Jane Moore are given their guns one by one. John Wilkes Booth enters last and the Proprietor introduces him to the others as their pioneer before he begins distributing ammunition. The assassins take aim as "Hail to the Chief" heralds Abraham Lincoln's offstage arrival. Booth excuses himself, a shot rings out and Booth shouts, "Sic semper tyrannis!"
The Balladeer, a personification of the American Dream, appears and begins to tell Booth's story ("The Ballad of Booth") as the scene changes to Richard H. Garrett's barn in 1865. Booth, mudstained and with a broken leg, is attempting to write his reasons for killing Lincoln in his diary but cannot hold the pen. He forces his associate David Herold to write for him at gunpoint. As Booth dictates, blaming Lincoln for the Civil War and for destroying the South, the Balladeer interjects that Booth's motives really had more to do with his personal problems, much to Booth's annoyance. When a Union soldier calls for Booth's surrender, Herold abandons him and surrenders. In desperation, Booth throws the Balladeer his diary so that he can tell his story to the world. The Balladeer reads out Booth's justifications, and Booth laments that his act will not be enough to heal the country. As the Union soldiers set fire to the barn, Booth commits suicide, and the Balladeer concludes that Booth was a madman whose treacherous legacy only served as inspiration for other madmen. The Balladeer rips Booth's diary and burns the pages.
The Assassins gather in a bar. Guiteau toasts to the U.S. presidency, speaking of his ambition to become Ambassador to France. Hinckley accidentally breaks a bottle, and Czolgosz flies into a rage, describing the bottle factory he works in and how many men die or are injured just to make a bottle. Guiteau jokingly tells Czolgosz to find another job, and the two begin to argue about the American Dream, with Guiteau defending America and Czolgosz dismissing it as a lie. Czolgosz grabs a bottle, barely stopping himself from throwing it. Booth urges Czolgosz to take control of his fate by breaking a bottle himself, but Czolgosz cannot. Zangara complains about his stomach pains, and Booth suggests fixing them by shooting Franklin D. Roosevelt.
A radio broadcast, narrated by the Proprietor, describes Zangara's failed attempt to assassinate Roosevelt at Bayfront Park in Miami. He misses Roosevelt and accidentally kills Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak instead. Five bystanders are interviewed in turn, telling the audience their versions of the event; each is convinced that they personally saved the president ("How I Saved Roosevelt"). From an electric chair, Zangara sings his refusal to be afraid and that he did not care whom he killed as long as it was one of the men who control the money. Peeved that as an "American nothing" he has no photographers at his execution, Zangara is electrocuted as the bystanders preen for the cameras.
American anarchist Emma Goldman gives a lecture from offstage as Czolgosz listens, enraptured. He introduces himself to her and declares his love, but she tells him to redirect his passion to social justice. She gives him a leaflet that she tells him contains an idea that is "not mine alone, but mine". As she prepares to leave, Czolgosz offers to carry her bag, to which Goldman protests. Czolgosz, in his first display of assertiveness, still insists.
Fromme and Moore meet on a park bench and share a joint. Fromme speaks of the apocalyptic preachings of Charles Manson, remembering how they met and declaring herself his lover and slave. Juggling her purse, a can of Tab and a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Moore claims she is an informant for the FBI (or used to be), has been a CPA and had five husbands and three children. They connect over their shared hatred of their fathers, and using Colonel Sanders as a graven image, they give the bucket of chicken the evil eye and then shoot it while laughing. Moore realizes that she knew Manson in high school, and the women scream in delight over their memories of him.
Czolgosz reflects on how many men die just to make a gun. Booth, Guiteau and Moore enter one by one and join him in a barbershop quartet in which they honor a single gun's power to change the world ("The Gun Song"). Czolgosz decides to shoot the president.
Czolgosz arrives at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition where William McKinley is shaking visitors' hands. The Balladeer sings ("The Ballad of Czolgosz") as Czolgosz joins the line, and upon reaching McKinley, he shoots him.
Samuel Byck sits on a park bench. He talks into a tape recorder, preparing a message to Leonard Bernstein telling Bernstein he can save the world by writing more love songs, and explaining that he is going to change things by crashing a 747 into the White House and killing Richard Nixon. Then he accuses Bernstein of ignoring him, just like the other celebrities he has recorded tapes for, such as Hank Aaron and Jonas Salk. After flying into a rage, Byck stands up and angrily sings the chorus to "America" before storming offstage.
John Hinckley sits in his rumpus room playing a guitar. Lynette Fromme enters and asks him to play her a song, but he refuses. Fromme notices a picture of Jodie Foster, who Hinckley claims is his girlfriend. When Fromme realizes the picture is a publicity photo, she pulls out a picture of Charles Manson and mocks Hinckley for being in love with a woman he has never met, which makes him throw her out in a fit of rage. Alone, he swears that he will win Foster's love "with one brave, historic act" and sings a love song to her while Fromme individually does the same to Manson ("Unworthy of Your Love"). An image of Ronald Reagan appears on a wall in the back of the stage, and an enraged Hinckley shoots it over and over again, but the picture keeps reappearing. The Proprietor mocks Hinckley by quoting Reagan as Hinckley fires, missing each time.
Back at the Proprietor's shooting range, Charles Guiteau flirts with Sara Jane Moore while giving her marksmanship tips before trying to kiss her. When she rebuffs him, he becomes enraged and attacks her. Her gun goes off in his ear, and he backs off, angrily proclaiming that he will be the next ambassador to France. The scene changes to a train station, where Guiteau goes to meet James Garfield and James Blaine. He asks to be made Ambassador, but Garfield mockingly refuses, prompting Guiteau to shoot him.
Guiteau is arrested and sent to the gallows, where he recites a poem he wrote titled "I Am Going to the Lordy". The Balladeer sings about Guiteau's trial and sentencing while Guiteau merrily cakewalks up to the noose, getting more optimistic with each verse. Guiteau sings along with the Balladeer about Guiteau's optimism before he is hanged ("The Ballad of Guiteau").
Squeaky Fromme and Sara Jane Moore prepare to assassinate Gerald Ford. Moore has brought along her nine-year-old son and her dog (which she accidentally shoots), which causes an argument between the two women, who briefly turn on each other. Moore accidentally spills her gun's bullets just as President Ford enters the stage. Not recognizing him at first, the two women allow him to help them, but upon discovering who he is, Fromme tries to shoot him, but her gun jams. Having no other resource, Moore tries to throw her bullets at Ford.
Samuel Byck is driving to the airport to hijack a plane, which he plans to crash into the White House. Growing unhinged, he records a message addressed to Nixon, complaining about contemporary American life, how the public is constantly lied to, and announces that killing him is the only solution.
The assassins congregate in limbo to enumerate their reasons for taking action and lament not receiving any "prize" for their efforts. The Balladeer admonishes their violent methods and argues for the possibility of the American Dream. The Proprietor leads the assassins in a song for all Americans dispossessed by the Dream ("Another National Anthem"). Against his protests, the assassins force the Balladeer offstage.
On the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, the ghosts of the assassins, led by Booth, appear before a suicidal Lee Harvey Oswald. They implore him not to become his own victim and to instead assassinate John F. Kennedy, thereby sharing his pain and disillusionment with the world. They tell Oswald that this act will empower the assassins of the future and revitalize the actions taken by assassins of the past. Finally moved by the idea that he has the power to unite the assassins, Oswald shoots ("November 22, 1963").
After the assassinations, various citizens recall what they were doing when they heard that the president had been killed, reflecting on their grief. ("Something Just Broke").
The assassins regroup once more at the shooting range, now with Oswald. They proudly reassert that "everybody's got the right to be happy" before loading and aiming their guns ("Everybody's Got the Right (Reprise)").
