Review: Detecting fun in MURDER BY TWO at Greater Boston Stage Company

Musical comedy creators Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair are self-described fans of 1930s screwball comedies, so when the pair decided to collaborate on a musical that only needed two actors and a piano, they asked themselves, “What if the Marx Brothers did an Agatha Christie story?”

That became the premise for the musical whodunnit “Murder for Two,” a manic mix of mystery, murder, and music that premiered at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2011. Now through November 9 at Greater Boston Stage Company in Stoneham, under Tyler Rosati’s briskly paced direction, the humor is being mined by local favorites Will McGarrahan, as the dozen different Suspects, and Jared Troilo, as police officer and aspiring detective Marcus Moscowicz.

With music by Kinosian and lyrics by Blair and a book they co-wrote, the story unfolds when acclaimed American novelist Arthur Whitney is found dead at his surprise birthday party. The clues are few but there’s a veritable whirling dervish of suspects, from the widow, a niece, a German-accented psychiatrist, and a Brooklyn couple, to members of a children’s choir and a prima ballerina – all played with abandon by the nimble McGarrahan, whose myriad facial gestures and vocal inflections are a joy to behold.

If you’ve long followed the actor’s career, which just weeks ago found him as the Narrator in Lyric Stage Company’s “Our Town,” you may think you’ve seen him in everything – that is, until you see the tutu and cat-eye glasses he wears here. These are just a few of the outfits McGarrahan dons. But while Costume Designer Chelsea Kerl does some inspired work, it isn’t always sufficiently developed to differentiate the Suspects clearly.

In this 90-minute one-act two-hander, Troilo reprises the role he played at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston in 2016, opposite Kristen Salpini. Even nattily attired in a navy-blue three-piece suit, Troilo imbues Marcus with a winning goofiness. With music direction by Bethany Aiken, he also duets well with McGarrahan and is splendid on their bravura piano pairings in musical-comedy bits that Kinosian and Blair have acknowledged were inspired by the Harpo and Chico Marx four-hand duet in the 1941 film “The Big Store.” (Note to casting directors: Troilo might be terrific in the title role of “Groucho: A Life in Revue,” should you decide to produce that 1987 off-Broadway play.)

McGarrahan and Troilo’s timing is quick and the pair earned many guffaws at the show’s recent press performance, but they also often seemed in on the joke – a cardinal sin in farce – and Troilo’s apparent struggles to suppress his own laughter at his co-star’s antics came across less as natural than as mugging. Another opening-night distraction – this one involving malfunctioning microphones and an unplanned pause in the production, which resumed with not all sound issues resolved – resulted in some lines being lost. But while muffled dialogue can frustrate playgoers, in a ratatat comedy like this one, the effect was less dramatic.

Scenic designer Katy Monthei and properties designer Hazel Peters have created a richly detailed set anchored by a high-sheen baby grand and filled with a plethora of tufted chairs, crushed velvet draperies, and ornate bric-a-brac. Fine work is also done by lighting designer Matt Cost.

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