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| Kristen Beth Williams and Kevin Massey in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (Joan Marcus) |
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder
The 5th
Avenue Theater
Through July 31,
2016
The Tony Award
winning best musical, A Gentleman's Guide
to Love & Murder, just opened at The 5th Avenue Theater with the
national tour. If you’ve been wondering why it got such smashing reviews on
Broadway, what earned it a Tony, well, it is absolutely a barrel of fun and
well worth checking out.
It’s got the
new-fangled device of having one actor play all the people who get killed.
Possibly a good budget support, but the one actor has got to be on his game. John
Rapson is absolutely up to the daunting task, though some of his costume
changes must be magic. His turn for
clowning is an opportunity to study a master. His timing is perfect.
Wait, what? One
guy gets killed 9 times? Starting over: Montague Navarro (Kevin Massey) has
just lost his mother and an old friend arrives who helps him find evidence that
he is a far-down-the-line heir to an enormous Dysquith fortune. Indeed, he has
a birth certificate with that name in the middle. But there are 9 people in his
way. It’s not long before the idea of helping them die pops into his fertile
brain.
And we’re off to
the races. Each of the Dysquith heirs makes an appearance and Monty has to make
them disappear, as it were. Part of the enormous fun is the great technical
support from the special effects team. Some of the murders are gruesome, though
handled in the most fun way. Projections are heavily involved and ingenious in
application.
Massey is quite
adorable as Monty. He even has a conscience. He has two wonderful love
interests: the self-interested Sibella (Kristen Beth Williams), who spurns his
love for a safe marriage, and his distant cousin Phoebe (Adrienne Eller) who
decides he will be hers. They all are perfectly cast. Their singing is divine.
The rest of the
cast are certainly no slouches! Occasionally they get to demonstrate individual
quality voices, and their blend is sublime.
The songs are
lyrically clever and easy to listen to. You do have to get used to a British
accent, but just keep at it.
It is something
you can take any kids to who you won’t worry about exposing to murder, because
otherwise, it’s very unobjectionable. Do pack up everyone in your house and
around your neighborhood and go see this very fun show.
For more
information, call 206-625-1900 or go to www.5thavenue.org.
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