MURDER FOR TWO Opens at Saint Michael's Playhouse

Saint Michael's Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Chuck Tobin today announced the July 19 opening of the Off-Broadway hit Murder for Two at Saint Michael's Playhouse. Murder for Two features book and music by Joe Kinosian, book and lyrics by Kellen Blair and stars Noel Carey and Jeremiah Ginn, both from Murder for Two's national tour. Murder for Two creative team is led by director J. Scott Lapp with choreography by Wendy Seyb, scenic design by John Paul Devlin, costume design by Andrea Lauer, lighting design Anthony Pellecchia, and sound design by Jill BC DuBoff.

Performances are Wednesday - Saturday evenings 7/19 - 7/22, Tuesday - Saturday 7/25 - 7/29 (8pm curtain), and Saturday matinees 7/22 and 7/29 (2pm curtain).

Murder for Two is the third production of the Playhouse's 70th anniversary season. Everyone is a suspect in this hilarious musical murder mystery "with a twist." One actor investigates the crime, the other plays all of the suspects and they both play the piano - delivering 90 minutes of music, mayhem, and murder. Fasten your seatbelts for this roller-coaster ride as small town cop Marcus Moscowicz desperately tries to solve the murder of Great American Novelist Arthur Whitney before the real detective shows up. A zany blend of classic musical comedy and madcap mystery, this musical comedy whodunit is a highly theatrical duet loaded with killer laughs.

Charles Isherwood of The New York Times calls Murder for Two, "An ingenious miniature musical in the form of a snazzy vaudevillian double act." Roma Torre from NY1 calls Murder for Two, "A 90-minute jolt of caffeinated creativity." Jesse Oxfeld of The New York Observer said, "Who would have guessed that murder could be so fun? A noir-tinged detective story elevated to the heights of delicious farce!" Zachary Stewart in TheaterMania said, "This musical-whodunit relies on just two performers to act, sing, dance, and play all of the music. It is an incredible feat of athletic theatricality to behold . . . it is thrilling to watch these two performers."

Noel Carey (Detective Marcus) is a New York based actor, writer, composer and lyricist. National Tour: Murder for Two. Regional: Murder for Two (Red Barn Theater), Million Dollar Quartet (Theatre Under the Stars, Merry-Go-Round Playhouse), Into The Woods (TheatreWorks), Hair (City Lights), Tale of the Nutcracker (Opera San José). TV: Brooklyn Sound, co-creator/co-star (NYTVF Comedy Central Development Deal), Life Sucks, supporting actor/music supervisor (ITVF Best Comedy). Original musical include Seven Minutes in Heaven (Barrington Stage Company), The Showmen (Musical Theatre Factory, The PiTCH). Previously this season at Saint Michael's Playhouse, Noel Carey appeared as Jerry Lee Lewis in Million Dollar Quartet.

 

Jeremiah Ginn (The Suspects) is California native and thrilled to be tickling the ivories again with Mr. Carey, alongside whom he starred in the National Tour of Murder for Two last year. Off-Broadway/NYC: Murder for Two (U/S The Suspects), Anything Goes (Billy Crocker), The Showmen. National Tour: Murder for Two (The Suspects), A Chorus Line (Zach). Jeremiah has also been seen regionally at the famed Godspeed Opera House, The MUNY, Gulfshore Playhouse, Stages St. Louis, and North Shore Music Theater. Film: Hello Again, The American Mall. Murder for Two marks Jeremiah Ginn's debut at Saint Michael's Playhouse.

 

J. Scott Lapp (Director) is thrilled to be joining the family at SMP directing Murder for Two. Jeremy is an alumnus of the Directors Lab West, a proud member of the SDC and a 2011 SDC Emerging Artist. Associate/Assistant Directing credits include Broadway: Bonnie & Clyde; National Tour: Murder for Two, Xanadu (La Jolla Playhouse, National Tour); Off-Broadway: Murder for Two (New World Stages, Second Stage); Regional: Rain (Old Globe), Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Paper Mill Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse). Selected directing credits include International: Murder for Two (Japan, Calgary), Regional: Sweeney Todd (North Carolina Summer Rep), First Date (SDMT), Murder for Two: Christmas Edition (Bucks County Playhouse), Peter and The Starcatcher, Spring Awakening, Urinetown (Barn Stage Company), Freedom Riders (NYMF).

 

Wendy Seyb (Choreographer) Rainforest Benefit Concert (Carnegie Hall/Sting, Kevin Spacey, James Taylor, Renee Fleming), The Pee Wee Herman Show (Broadway/HBO). Off-Broadway: Click Clack Moo (Lortel nomination), The Toxic Avenger Musical (Lortel, Dora, Callaway nominations), Murder for Two. Director/Choreographer: How You Look at It (The Sacramento Ballet), Birthday Sax (Ars Nova), That Reminds Me (Web Series). Shows with Disney, Cartoon Network, Richard Frankel Productions, and Nickelodeon. Narrative Dance Comedies created for short films, spec commercials, music videos, and at esteemed NYC venues including Dance Theater Workshop, Joyce SoHo, and Baryshnikov Arts Center.

 

Joe Kinosian (Book and Music) is the co-recipient of Chicago's Joseph Jefferson Award recognizing Murder for Two as Best New Musical following its record-breaking run at Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Joe was also nominated for Best Actor as The Suspects. Murder for Two had its Off-Broadway premiere at Second Stage Uptown, going on to a year-long run at New World Stages. Joe's work with Kellen Blair has been showcased at The Kennedy Center, The York Theater, and on Broadway at the Theatre World Awards. Joe received the ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Award and the Harrington Award from the BMI Workshop. Joe also appeared in Dirty Blonde with Emily Skinner (Hangar Theater) and the NYC premiere of Dear Edwina Off-Broadway.

 

Kellen Blair (Book and Lyrics) is the Drama Desk nominated co-creator of Murder for Two (Off-Broadway: Second Stage Theatre and New World Stages. World premiere: Chicago Shakespeare Theater). Kellen and co-writer Joe Kinosian are the recipients of the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Musical Work in Chicago (2011) and the ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers / Lorenz Hart Award (2013). Their work has been showcased on Broadway, the Kennedy Center, and theaters across the country. Kellen is excited to be developing a new musical farce with Joe titled The More Things Change; he's also working with Broadway composer Larry Grossman on a new show called Scrooge in Love.

 

ABOUT

Murder for Two was developed at The Adirondack Theatre Festival and San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon. Chicago Shakespeare Theater presented the World Premiere Production in May, 2011, which was extended 4 times and ran for more than 6 months. Kinosian and Blair were recognized with a 2011 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Musical. Produced by Jayson Raitt, Barbara Whitman, Steven Chaikelson and Second Stage Theatre, Murder for Two first played New York in a limited summer engagement at Second Stage Theatre Uptown (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director, Casey Reitz, Executive Director and Christopher Burney, Curator and Associate Artistic Director) in the summer of 2013. It was extended twice, due to popular demand, before transferring to New World Stages for an eight-month run through June 2014. The Regional Premiere opened at Pittsburgh CLO on October 22, 2014. The National Tour launched in 2014 and toured the United States through 2015. Murder for Two had its Vermont Premiere in August of 2016 at the Weston Playhouse.

Saint Michael's Playhouse is an Actors' Equity Association theater company operating as an auxiliary enterprise of Saint Michael's College. The Playhouse produces its productions with theater artists from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theater nationwide, along with Vermont-based professional actors, directors and designers. Actors' Equity Association is the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. Tobin adds "We rehearse our shows right here in our theater and design and build our scenery, costumes and props on location with our crew of approximately 80 professional theater artists." This 70th Anniversary Season of Saint Michael's Playhouse marks Producing Artistic Director Chuck Tobin's thirty-second year with the professional theater company.

 

The Playhouse mainstage theater season continues with Murder for Two, and You Can't Take It With You. Ticket prices range from $35 to $45. The Playhouse is located at McCarthy Arts Center, on Route 15, in Colchester, Vermont, a ten minute drive from downtown Burlington, Vermont. Tickets may be purchased online at saintmichaelsplayouse.org or by calling 802-654-2281 or visiting the walk-up window in the lobby of McCarthy Arts Center. For a complete show schedule and more information contact the theater box office directly at 802-654-2281 or visit us at saintmichaelsplayhouse.org. Saint Michael's Playhouse, One Winooski Park, Colchester, Vermont 05439

 

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