Review: A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER Tour

The night started with a long line waiting to get into the State Theatre. The new security measures apparently will be a forever thing upon entering the Hennepin Theatre Trust shows, so prepare and give yourself lots of time. That was just the first thing I did not expect that night.

A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER (let's call it GGLAM from here on out -- that's one long name!), currently playing through the weekend, was the next unknown. Sure, I'd heard that they won Tony Awards. I'd heard it was funny. That's all I knew going in.

The surprise was that this modern Broadway musical was old. Well, it seemed old -- it was written over the past decade plus, but it was like an old fashioned musical, almost a faux operetta, with little of the things you almost come to expect in the post-RENT era where HAMILTON (whose soundtrack reminds me of the former) and SPRING AWAKENING are old stories told with the modern, singer/songwriter style and rhythms. GGLAM is none of that. The story was slapstick and the high sopranos were trilling their way through music that sounded more Gilbert & Sullivan.

The show centers on a young man, Monty Navarro, who just buried his dear mother, and he finds that she was a disinherited heiress who's family left her to live a hard life raising him penniless because she'd married for love. Monty (played by Kevin Massey, who incidentally may be remembered locally as the Almanzo in the Guthrie Theater's LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE) is ninth in line for the Earl of Highhurst and the life he had taken from him. His girl (Sibella, played by Kristen Beth Williams) is marrying another, a rich man who bores her, but she's got no faith in Monty's prospects. He decides that he will get to the top of the D'Ysquith (yeah, the name must have some foreboding intentions) family line one way or another after they shun his advances to join them.

It turns out Monty is quite good at offing his family members, though suspicions are rising after so many have perished in such a short time. But not enough to keep them from inviting him in. And in the midst of his murderous spree, he falls in love with his cousin, Phoebe (Adrienne Eller), and becomes engaged, which angers his married mistress. The actor who plays all eight of the relatives in his way gets murdered eight different ways. John Rapson plays the various members of the D'Ysquith clan -- male, female, gay, clergy, do-gooder -- but each time Monty pays a visit to an heir, they die. The creators of the musical are said to think this softens the murders because there's a payoff in having Rapson return to play yet another doomed relative in the next scene.

In the end, things are turned around and our "hero" comes out on top -- or so we think -- and we'll save the rest for a surprise for you since I've taken away a couple of the others of your night at the theatre.

Overall, this show's strengths are in the cast, the gorgeous costumes and the interesting set, which mimics "toy theaters" or old English playhouses in a music-box sort of way that fit nicely into the historic State's small stage. It was not the laugh-a-minute fest that was expected but it drew polite chuckles from many with original music and a cheeky attitude.

Tickets are still available, though likely limited for the last performances this weekend at www.hennepintheatretrust.org.

Photo:

National Touring Company. (L-R) John Rapson as Henry D'Ysquith, Megan Loomis, Kevin Massey as Monty Navarro in a scene from "A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder."

Photo credit:

Photo by Joan Marcus

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