Review: GENTLEMANNEN (THE GENTLEMAN'S HANDBOOK IN LOVE AND MURDER) at Oscars

In 2014 the musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder won 4 Tony awards of which one was for the best musical. It won in contest with musicals like Aladdin and Beautiful - the Carol King Musical. As I seen both of them and really liked them. I had quite high expectations on "Gentlemannen" as it is called in Swedish when I saw the dress rehearsal the 24th of January at Oscars Theatre in Stockholm.

The leading actor of the show is one of the most famous comedian in Sweden, Henrik Dorsin who plays all eight D'ysquiths who is murdered by Monty is using all his comic skills and is doing a great job to shit between the different characters and all the quick costume changes. He is great playing all the characters in act one but he is even better in act two when Suzanne Reuter who plays Lady Eugenia, Lord D'ysquiths wife challenge him on the comic side. Suzanne Reuter is one of the leading comic actors in Sweden and she is always spot on in her lines. Watching her on stage is always a pleasure. It is really interesting to see that a good comedian can raise several levels challenged by another great comedian.

The main character of the musical is Monty played by Anders T Olsson. Anders T Olsson is an actor you normally will see in plays at the Royal Dramatic Theatre so it was a new experience for me to see him in a musical. He is a great actor and plays Monty well, but he lacks in singing skills. Monty grew up in the belief that he is an ordinary poor guy, but when his mother dies, he is told that she is an D'ysquith and he tries to contact his family but they are not that keen to meet him and recognize him as a relative. He did not intend at the beginning to murder his relatives but as finally meets one of his relatives who by accident falls of a roof the plan to kill them on by one so he can inherit the titel and manor begins. The murders are quite inventive and act 1 is just a long line of murder. Act 2 ends with a twist.

As this is a "Gentleman´s handbook in Love and Murder" there is also a couple of love stories. Monty falls in love with two very different women. Sibella (Sara Jangfeldt) and Phoebe (Emmi Christensson) Sibella has a tougher appearance than the beautiful and sweet Phoebe, Sara Jangfeldt has recently played in Billy Elliot and Emmi Christensson played Christine Daeé against Peter Jöback in Phantom of the Opera in Stockholm 2016/2017. Both have really great voices and without them I would not consider this a musical. The musical highlights in this show is when they are on stage, especially in the duets.

The ensemble consists of several talented musical artists, one of them Daniel Engman. He has a great voice and it is a bit of waste to not use his singing and acting skills better.

Can't help wondering if he hadn't been a better choice as Monty. He can both act and sing amazingly.

I loved the cloths by Nigel Hooks, especially the dresses of Sibella and Phoebe, so colorful and beautiful. Nigel Hooks has also done the great scenografi.

Henrik Dorsin and Suzanne Reuter makes the audience laugh a lot and it is a rare opportunity to see them in a show at the same time. However as a musical I prefer both Aladdin and Beautiful - the Carol King Musical.

To post a comment, you must register and login.