Stephen Sondheim's famously problematic musical about Lee Harvey Oswald, John Wilkes Booth and other Presidential-killers from American history is still problematic: too sketchy, too superficial, too glibly cynical. But Joe Mantello's slick and well-sung Broadway revival made the best case possible for it, and resurrected one of Sondheim's most appealing latter-day scores.
Come fly with us, and Leo, through the best (and worst) of 2004. Tops in the cinema this year include Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator. Elsewhere, Deadwood was good TV, and a Strange tale fascinated readers.