The monologues of the unemployed tiresalesman Sam Byck, his tape-recorded messages to Leonard ("Lenny") Bernstein and Richard ("Dick") Nixon, are marvelously witty and display a perfect understanding of the mind of the paranoiac.

The most powerful scene in the play, wonderfully directed by Phoebe Wray, in which Leon Czolgosz tells of the torture of slaving over a hot oven in a bottle-making factory, but cannot bring himself to release his anger by breaking a bottle at a bar, is almost too painful to watch.

Phoebe Wray's staging is a solid recreation of the original which works well. The set and lighting designs, which seem brighter than those of the New York production, add an energy which the all too dark designs of the original lacked.

The nine-piece orchestra also adds a fullness to the production which the original, performed with only three pieces and an elaborate computer system, did not have. (The CD recording, made after the New York production, was done with a 33 piece orchestra.)

The performers are powerful actors and singers and create convincing portraits of the assassins. Abe Sylvia's portrayal of Czolgosz is heart wrenching, Matt Walton (John Wilkes Booth) and Brian Mack (Zangara) are similarly captivating. Strong-voiced Jennifer Zimmerman makes a wonderfully comedian Sara Jane Moore.

Perhaps the fact that many of the best moments of this musical are non-musical sequences is a weakness of the show. And Weidman's book writing, though strong and witty, is not entirely successful at weaving a continuum between the scenes.

However, Assassins is a very effective and interesting work and the Boston Conservatory production was certainly worthy of the material.