BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Everyone has a dark side, and composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim exposes his in “Assassins.”

“Assassins” introduces us to nine of history’s most nefarious killers or would-be killers, including Leon Frank Czolgosz and Giuseppe Zangara.

The big question is why they did it. Why did an unemployed used car salesman named Sam Byck want to fly a jetliner into the White House to off Dick Nixon? Why did Charles Guiteau shoot President Garfield in the back?

Because Garfield wouldn’t name Guiteau ambassador to France.

If the answer seems absurd, it’s because we’re dealing with the warped realities of some misaligned, misguided and, in their own minds, misunderstood misfits.

This message hits home with the first song. As the assassins gather in a bar, the proprietor advises, “If you feel like a failure, you can shoot a president!” ... as though homicide is a acceptable treatment for poor self-esteem.

Ed Peters is particularly convincing as the 19th-century actor John Wilkes Booth, presented as the “royalty” among the assassins, and the most imposing figure on the stage. His argument in song that he “slew a tyrant” to avenge the lives of his fallen countrymen is eloquent and almost convincing, but is tempered by Ben Fisler’s Balladeer, who ponders if the deed was really done due to “a slew of bad reviews.”

Despite the subject matter, there are laughs, as Squeaky Fromme (Tammy Crisp) and Sarah Moore (Liz Boyer-Hunnicutt), use a bucket of chicken for target practice. The would-be femme fatales need President Ford’s (James Hunnicutt) help to scoop up their dropped bullets, and when their guns misfire, they can only toss the ammo in the commander in chief’s direction, yelling “Bang!” As in an old Saturday Night Live bit, they are “Dangerous, But Inept,” which is not a bad description of the lives all the assassins led.

IF YOU GO

“Assassins”

» Venue: The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theater, 817 St. Paul St., Baltimore

» When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday through March 18

» Tickets: $15; $12 for seniors and students

» More info: 410-752-1225, spotlighters.org