Dr. Blackwell's BLOG

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Theater Review: A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder

Filed under: Popular Music — Dr. Christopher Blackwell @ 02:22

gentlemans-guide-to-love-and-murder

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (Walter Kerr Theatre): This show has been nominated for more Tony Awards than any other Broadway show this season. Coming in at 10 nominations, there was no way I could miss it. And I am glad I didn’t. Now–does it deserve that many nominations when there are others who were completely snubbed? No. But that shouldn’t distract from the fun experience this show provides. The story is simple–a man who is down and out on his luck finds out he is actually a member of a wealthy family and is only 9th in line to inherit everything they own. Thus, he proceeds to murder all those standing in his way. While the story is simple (as are the sets), the two main lead actors are not. Monty Navarro (the murderer) is played beautifully by Bryce Pinkham while the ENTIRE D’Ysquith family is portrayed masterfully by Jefferson Mays. You read right–he plays the ENTIRE family during the show. And that adds an incredible amount of hilarity as he plays both the males and females of the family. This show is hilarious–I was sore from laughing through most of the 2 hour and 23 minute running time! And it is a classic British farce that earns its laughs from slapstick silliness and ridiculous one liners that make the show’s book writer, Robert L. Freedman, rightly deserving of his Tony nomination. But in the end, the show is light-hearted entertainment. I didn’t walk out of the theater with the impression this was some incredible and groundbreaking work. But I certainly enjoyed my time.  Check out video highlights from the show courtesy of Playbill below:

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