A musical about the assassins of American presidents is:

A. A bizarre premise for a Broadway show

B. A Tony Award winner

C. A Stephen Sondheim musical

It’s all three of the above as you will see and hear in Civic Theatre of Allentown’s production of “Assassins,” opening May 6 at the 19th Street Theatre, Allentown, where it runs through May 22.

Says Civic Theatre of Allentown Artistic Director Wiliam Sanders, who’s directing the one-act, one and one-half hour “Assassins”: “It’s a wild, theatrical piece.”

Music and lyrics are by Sondheim, with a book by John Weidman (“Pacific Overtures”). The show is based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr.

Civic’s press release describes “Assassins” as “bold, original, surreal, thought-provoking, and alarmingly funny. [It] investigates the personalities behind nine Presidential assassins and reveals uneasy truths about the American Dream.

“Hugely resonant in today’s celebrity-obsessed culture, ‘Assassins’ is brought to life by its desperate, disillusioned, passionate characters.”

Sanders has a long association with the musical, going back to what was to have been a November 2001 production of “Assassins,” directed by Joe Mantello. Sanders, then living and working in New York City, was assistant director.

Leading up to the original-scheduled revival, Sanders viewed a video at the The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center of the original 1990 off-Broadway production. Rehearsals were to start the Tuesday after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The show did not go on.

Six of the actors cast for the 2001 production were the same as for 2004 revival. “We were ready to go,” Sanders says.

“When it was cancelled, it was very difficult for me, so I kind of put it away,” says Sanders, who dusted off his research some 12 years later for Civic’s production.

At the 2004 Tonys, “Assassins” received five Tonys, including director for Mantello, orchestrations for Michael Starobin and revival.

Sanders assembled a stellar cast for Civic’s production: Jarrod Yuskauskas (John Wilkes Booth), Matt Meckes (Lee Harvey Oswald), Joann Basist (Emma Goldman), Zack Einstein (John Hinckley), Kristen Stachina (Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme), Kirk Lawrence (Charles Guiteau), Tracy Ceschin (Sara Jane Moore) and Will Morris (Leon Czolgosz).

Also: Alex Michaels (Giuseppe Zangara), Tom Onuschco (Samuel Byck), Michael Scuotto (David Herold), Ken Butler (James Blaine), Robert Trexler (President James Garfield) and Wyatt Root (Billy). The Ensemble includes Emma Forgione and Melisa Klausner.

“They’re amazing, a really incredibly talented group of people,” says Sanders.

“I wasn’t so much interested in their physical resemblance, because no one really knows what they look like, really. Even ‘Squeaky’ Fromme and John Hinckley ... People have an idea of what they look like. Ironically, most of them [the Civic actors] really do look like them and physically resemble the aassassins.”

Meckes is music director. Steve Reisteter conducts the orchestra of 14 professoinal musicians. The score is based on Starobin’s orchestrations for the 2004 revival. The original off-Broadway show had about one half-dozen musicians.

The Civic “Assassins” production staff includes Klausner, assistant director; Emily Heller, stage manager, Jason Sherwood, set designer; Morris, costume and lighting designer; Michaels, technical director; Helena Confer, sound designer; Jason Sizemore, props master, and Kim Danish, hair and wigs.

“We’ve come up with a concept for doing the piece that is slightly different than has been done before,” Sanders says.

“I was really interested in exploring the concept of guns. You know, without guns, there wouldn’t have been any assassinations. And I’m not anti-gun or hunting,” says Sanders.

“I think it’s much more respected now than it was then. I think it was ahead of its time,” says Sanders of “Assassins.”

Tickets: Civic Theatre Box Office, 527 N. 19th St., Allentown; civictheatre.com, 610-432-8943