Review: MURDER ME ALWAYS at Town Players Of Newtown

A murder mystery play is always fun and audience engaging, and The Town Players of Newtown’s production of Lee Mueller’s Murder Me Always is no exception.

The beginning may be a bit confusing. It’s a play within a play. A “poorly written” and “badly acted” play called Murder Me Always will open once the crew can figure out how to get the curtain to work, tardy actors finally show up, and everyone stops backbiting. It takes place in a country house (with a fabulous set, lighting, and sound design by Tyler A. Kittleman, who also produced the show) where people arrive for an elegant soiree. The action really starts in the early part of the performance of the play when the director (played by Dana Cote) is fatally shot. The play is put out of its misery as Detective Mamet (Desirae Kelley) and her team, Officer Rico (Rick Hodder) and Cadet Johnson (Audrey Smithers) deal with the corpse, dust for prints, and try to find the killer.

It turns out that Detective Mamet was staking out this production because of the series of killings in other murder mystery plays. She interrogates the performers Wanda Hawthorne (Luisa Olah), Fritz Fontaine (Dan Murphy), Henry Figgens (Philip Lorenzo), Muffy LaDue (Amy Strachan), Blake Powers (Travis Gebing), Drew Graham (Tyler Nuzzo-Dozier), and Delores Dumfy (Rachel Bennette Julien), as well as the cab driver (Chris Andreko) who hangs around while Drew strings him along about paying the astronomical cab fare.

This genre calls for the audience to be alert constantly and ready to ask questions under the guidance of assistant director Trixie (Liesbet Theil). This part of the show is all improv and the audience at the performance I saw was on the mark. The performers were all at top form, even a bit over-the-top when called for, but always enjoyable onstage. 

Kudos to director Nicole Kittleman and co-producer Cooper Smithers (who took the above photo). Nick Kaye helped with the set design. There was no credit for the costumes, which were mostly fabulous.

Like most theater companies in Connecticut, Newtown Town Players is a nonprofit organization, and needs support. In this critic’s opinion, it also needs a bigger space that’s accessible for people with different abilities and more parking. Right now, the Board of Directors is content to work with what they have. On July 15, the Town Players of Newtown will present the Team Green Light Comedy Night, a fundraiser to repair and upgrade the theater. Town Players of Newtown will presenting Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced from August 11 through 26 and Dracula from October 20 through November 4. Visit www.newtownplayers.org online and in person at the theater, which is located off the main road at 18 Orchard Hill Road in Newtown.

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