Review: MURDER GIRL at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre

As I walked into Studio Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center, a neon sign reading “Marty’s Supper Club” prominently sat next to a scene with strung indoor Christmas lights, wood paneled walls, Packers memorabilia, and local beer signs. The low buzz of the lights hummed from Lisa Schlenker’s dimly lit set. As the house lights lowered and the show came alive, a door swung open into the bar from the cold, snowy, outside weather…we are in Wisconsin, and we are at Marty’s. 

Reminiscent of shows like Cheers, everyone knows your name at Marty’s. And sometimes, that means everyone at the bar also knows the girl who went missing, knows where she went to school, and knows that her backpack is downstairs in the basement, behind the cans of propane. The reason? Well, that’s up for debate. Against the more serious background of the tenuous relationship between siblings LeeAnn (Bree Barlow) and Eric (Matt Browden), who are mourning the passing of their mother, and serious Ted, who works in the kitchen (Joe Lino), are longtime employees Charlotte (Colleen Madden) and the “other” Charlotte (Carrie Hitchcock).

Named the same, they share the same sense of Wisconsin-branded humor: quick, sarcastic, campy, and laced with a thick upper-Midwestern accent, rounded out with vowel shifts and a nasally filter. They, by far, are my favorite characters of the show, helping to bring the audience back into the wonderfully kooky delights of a sitcom-meets-murder-mystery with impeccable comedic timing and physicality.