The vaporous America dream is often distilled into motivational bromides. They inspire the best in some and the worst in others. The one that defines this as a country where anyone can grow up to become President just underscores how far removed from power some feel.

In Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Assassins, in a Sight Unseen Theatre Company production at L.A.’s Meta Theatre through May 20, the composer-lyricist and his Pacific Overtures book-writer explore nine lowly Americans who sought to — and in four cases did — overpower the man who embodied this aspect of the American dream.

The 60-seat Meta provides an appropriately claustrophobic environment in which to meet Sondheim’s assassins. The wonderful cast, under brisk direction by Cindy Jenkins and the musical stewardship of Andy Mitton and Nancy Dobbs Owen, creates two required dimensions: that these be loners and that they form a strange historical collective.

Both chronologically and artistically, the obvious starting point is John Wilkes Booth (Michael Laurino), the actor who killed Abraham Lincoln in a theater.  From Booth to John Hinckley (Lance Kramer), the actors connect these misfits to their era, to their bizarre motivations, and to each other.

Assassins is a black comedy clubhouse the way the Righteous Brothers' "Rock and Roll Heaven" is a Top 40 gathering spot for deceased pop stars. A Balladeer (the outstanding Kyle Nudo) and a "Proprietor" (Patrick Seitz, prone to mugging) alternate major domo functions to introduce and interact with the would-be executioners.

In addition to Booth and Hinckley, there are Charles Giteau (Philip D'Amore), who killed James A. Garfield; Leon Czolgosz (Jason Decker), who killed William McKinley; Guiseppe Zangara (Salvatore Vassallo), who attempted to kill FDR, but killed the Mayor of Chicago beside him; Samuel Byck (Corey Pepper), who plotted to kill Richard Nixon; Sara Jane Moore (Gina Torrecilla) and Lynette Fromme (Juliana Johnson), who attempted to shoot Gerald Ford; and Lee Harvey Oswald (James Sheldon), who killed JFK.

Ms. Jenkins guides the big musical into the small space so that ensemble numbers fit as comfortably as the important two-actor scenes. Three of these two-handers are particularly noteworthy. Rachel Payne as Emma Goldman and Mr. Decker as Czolgosz carve out lovely emotional space for the anarchist author to innocently encourage her acolyte’s actions, creating that imagined meeting and setting up Hinckley’s similarly inspired but utterly apolitical shot a century later.

Mr. Laurino and Mr. Sheldon also connected beautifully for the imagined brainwashing of America's last successful assassin by its first. The delightful Ms. Johnson and Ms. Torrecilla provide comic relief without sacrificing their characters’ convictions. (Agent alert: The program bio says that the Witherspoonesque Ms. Johnson needs representation.) Mr. Kramer's Hinckley is always engaging, as are the two ensemble players, Rachel Jendrezejewski and Joaquin Nunez.

Only demerits at this performance were in the Gordian knot that tied the canvas strap to Oswald’s rifle (kudos to Mr. Sheldon for not missing a bead) and the lighting cue for Byck’s second solo scene. Perhaps the actor missed his spike. If not, there’s just too much shadow from the car door. On the subject of Byck, Mr. Pepper benefits from comedic gifts, but they occasionally push his character past definition.

Sondheim does not intend to explain the assassination phenomenon as much as lay it out with a unifying principle of theatricality. As is his wont, his music here has a thematic tie-in, sounding the music of each historical era. Though such nuance would be better served by a full orchestra, the five musicians on stage evoke the styles and promote the essential sense of smallness and withdrawal that fits these characters.