Review: Kennedy Center's A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER is Great Fun

Washingtonians are used to scandalous stories. However, has one story of an ambitious social climber and scheming relatives ever been as devilishly fun as A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder? The national tour of the 2014 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical, currently playing at the Kennedy Center, is sinfully delicious and not to be missed!

The plot is simple. Upon the death of his mother, Monty Navarro (Kevin Massey) learns he is the heir to the D'Ysquith (pronounced DIE-Sqi-with) family fortune and is in-line to become Earl of Highhurst. All that stands between him, the title and the money are eight equally eccentric D'Ysquith family members, portrayed in a comedic tour de force performance by John Rapson.

What makes A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder ingenious is a combination of factors starting with Robert Freedman's Tony Award Winning book. He has given us one of Broadway's best books in years, with vivid characters and a well-constructed story that will keep you guessing to the very end. Combined with his, and composer Steven Lutvak's, witty lyrics featuring intricate rhymes, they spoof British society, nobility and greed all while hinting at the D'Ysquith's possible incestual ancestry.

Director Darko Tresnjak has this production moving with Swiss-watch perfection. That's essential for a comedy like A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder to succeed, and succeed it does. The only weak point in the entire show is Lutvak's score, which at times sounds like uninspired operetta. It's not that the score is bad, it just isn't that memorable.

Rapson has, perhaps, one of the toughest jobs in show business portraying the D'Ysquith family. Yet, he makes the entire show look flawless. With endless amounts of energy and talent, each D'Ysquith comes off bolder and brasher. Aided by the hysterical Kristen Mengelkoch as Lady Eugenia, Rapson reaches his dysfunctional zenith as Lord Adalbert D'Ysquith in a hysterical dinner scene and screaming match that makes George and Martha from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? look positively normal.

With boyish good looks and a fine voice, Massey charms us as Monty who goes from grieving son to scheming lover. Together with Rapson, they shine in Act I's double entendre-laden "Better With a Man" and Act II's climatic "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun." Massey is equally charming with his love interests, the comedic Kristen Beth Williams and the splendid Adrienne Eller. All around the cast has tremendous chemistry together, which makes the whole evening that much more enjoyable.

As Sibella, Monty's lover who "supposedly" marries for love, Williams is fantastic with comedic-rich numbers like "I Don't Know What I'd Do." The best moment of the production features Massey, again with Tresnjak's excellent direction, balancing Williams and Eller, as Phoebe D'Ysquith, between two doors trying to woo both women. It's pure bliss, balancing the slapstick of the moment with the highbrow nobility of the characters.

With the rise and fold of a deep, rich, blood red velvet curtain, Alexander Dodge's bright music box-like set allows each scene to unfold on stage. Aaron Rhyne's playful projections fill the set's back wall adding to the humor inherent in Freedman's book. Accentuating the D'Ysquith's wealth are Lindo Cho's lush Victorian-era costumes, perfect for the show's early-1900's London setting. Cho won a well-deserved Tony Award for the costumes, and it's easy to see why with Sibella and Phoebe's stunning gowns, particularly in the show's final number.

Finally, much has been made about the sound quality of recent touring productions at the Kennedy Center. I'm thrilled to report that Dan Moses Schrier's sound design was flawless. Judging by the audience's constant laughter, they heard every word. It is also doesn't hurt that A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is playing in the Eisenhower Theatre, which is a perfect fit for this gem of a show. It probably would have gotten lost in a larger space like the Opera House.

There are few musicals I can say I enjoyed more on tour then when I saw the original cast on Broadway, but A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is an exception. Clever, ingeniously witty and hysterical, it's the perfect show to beat the winter doldrums and you don't have to be a gentleman to enjoy it!

Photo: (L-R) Kristen Beth Williams, Kevin Massey and Adrienne Eller. Credit: Joan Marcus.

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder runs thru January 30th at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - 2700 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20566. For tickets please call (202) 467-4600 or please click here.

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