Florida Studio Theatre Announces A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER

Florida Studio Theatre (FST) is proud to announce its first show of the 2018-2019 Winter Mainstage Season: the Tony Award-winning musical, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. Called one of the "Most inspired new musicals in years" by The New York Times, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder follows Monty Navarro, a lowly born Englishman who suddenly discovers he is ninth in succession to become the Earl of Highurst. Filled with remarkable music and killer laughs, this Broadway hit takes audiences on a journey through Monty's murderous hijinks as he pursues his "rightful" place in the family. A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, with Book and Lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and Music and Lyrics by Steve Lutvak, will run from November 7 through December 30, 2018 in FST's Gompertz Theatre. The full Winter Mainstage Season will be announced in September. Subscriptions for all four Winter Mainstage shows can be purchased for as little as $59 at (941) 366-9000 or www.floridastudiotheatre.org.

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder tells the delightful story of Monty Navarro, a distant heir to a family fortune, who sets out to jump the line of succession by any means necessary. All the while, Monty must juggle his mistress, his fiancée, and the constant threat of landing behind bars! Of course, it will all be worth it if he can slay his way to his inheritance... and be done in time for tea. One of Broadway's most celebrated contemporary musicals, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder will have audiences dying with laughter.

The most acclaimed musical of the 2013-14 Broadway season, Gentleman's Guide ran on Broadway for over two years, and received ten 2014 Tony Award nominations, eventually winning four awards: Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Costume Design. It also won the Best Musical prizes from the Drama League, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle, and received a 2015 Grammy Award nomination for Best Musical Show Album.

"It's a wonderful, funky opening to our Winter Season," said FST's Producing Artistic Director, Richard Hopkins. "Gentleman's Guide is tight, smart, funny, and the perfect musical comedy for FST's intimate Gompertz Theatre."

Directing this delightfully witty musical is FST Associate Artist Jason Cannon, who also directed FST's hit Mainstage productions of Million Dollar Quartet and Once. "I always love taking these big, Broadway hits and 'translating' them into FST's Gompertz Theatre. The intimacy of our venue deeply affects the way we see these big shows," shared Cannon. "The themes and characters pack a wallop in a smaller venue that you don't necessarily experience when you're 50 rows back in a balcony. The power of the stories comes to the front...In terms of Gentleman's Guide, even as we laugh at the ridiculousness, I'm hoping we will also be impacted by the provocative ideas about ambition, revenge, privilege, and the nature of love."

According to The New York Times, Gentleman's Guide is a "True tour de force" full of "Theatrical fun." Variety finds the "Witty and adorably wicked new musical" to be "Daring, naughty, and ingeniously absurd." Entertainment Weekly called the Broadway hit "Thoroughly delightful and enjoyable" and "Gut-bustingly clever."

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is a musical rollercoaster ride of romance and murder. This hit musical will kick off Florida Studio Theatre's 2018-19 Winter Mainstage Season, running from November 7 through December 30, 2018 in FST's Gompertz Theatre. The full Winter Mainstage Season will be announced in September. Subscriptions for all four Winter Mainstage shows can be purchased for as little as $59 at (941) 366-9000 or at www.floridastudiotheatre.org.

Known as Sarasota's Contemporary Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre was founded in 1973 by Artist, Jon Spelman. Starting out as a small touring company, FST traveled to places such as migrant camps and prisons. The company eventually settled down into a permanent home, acquiring the former Woman's Club building - now renamed the Keating Theatre. In the years that followed, Florida Studio Theatre established itself as a major force in American Theatre, presenting contemporary theatre in its five theatre venues: the Keating Theatre, the Goldstein Cabaret, the renovated Gompertz Theatre, the John C. Court Cabaret and Bowne's Lab Theatre.

Even with its growth, Florida Studio Theatre remains firmly committed to making the arts accessible and affordable to a broad-based audience. Under Producing Artistic Director and CEO, Richard Hopkins, FST develops theatre that speaks to our living, evolving, and dynamically changing world. As FST grows and expands, it continues to provide audiences with challenging, contemporary drama and innovative programs.

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