Interview: GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE, Broadway's 'Little-Show-That-Could,' Pulls into Orlando

When A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER debuted on Broadway In October 2013, very few, if any, theatrical observers pegged the show for a two-plus-year main-stem run and four Tony Awards. After debuting at the Hartford Stage in Connecticut the previous November, and having another out-of-town tryout the following March at The Old Globe in San Diego, the show came to Broadway with very little fan-fare. Over-shadowed in the season by bigger-name musicals like ALADDIN, LES MISERABLES, BEAUTIFUL: THE Carol King MUSICAL, and HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE trudged along in its first six months in New York, hovering between $400,000-$500,000 at the weekly box office; likely not covering its operating costs.

However, when the Tony nominations were announced on April 29th, 2014, and the show snagged one of four slots in the Best Musical category, the patience of the show's producers paid off, as the strong reviews and positive word of mouth that the musical had been receiving since the fall began to be amplified by the show's nine nominations.

The weekly grosses began to rise from the middling $400-$500k range to $800-$900,000, making it a bona fide Broadway hit. In addition to winning a handful of trophies, on the night of the Tonys broadcast, GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE's performers made the most of their opportunity to present their little-show-that-could to the millions of theatre fans watching on TV around the world.

Playing multiple characters, Tony-winner Jefferson Mays introduced the show's performance amidst a flurry of quick changes, and cast members Bryce Pinkham, Lauren Worsham, and Lisa O'Hare performed the infectious and hilarious song "I've Decided to Marry You."

From there, GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE became one of Broadway's best underdog stories, snatching the evening's biggest prize from the more recognizable properties.

Now in the final six weeks of its year-and-a-half long national tour, this unique show pulls into Orlando's Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts beginning Tuesday night. Though it might not be the most well-known musical of the Broadway season, the show's company manager, Port St. John native David Van Zyll de Jong, thinks that it's the kind of show that everyone can enjoy.

Based on the 1907 novel "Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal," GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE is a fun, often silly story of a man who attempts to literally kill his way to respectability.

"In a nutshell, Monty Navarro discovers that he's a distant heir to a great fortune and title," van Zyll de Jong explained. "So, he decides to remove those relatives who stand in his way of inheriting that fortune and title."

All of the family members standing in Monty's way are played by the same actor, John Rapson. Monty is played by Kevin Massey, who yesterday finished up two weekends of singing Disney songs with Tony-nominee Kerry Butler at Epcot's Festival of the Arts.

"It keeps moving," van Zyll de Jong said of the show, "There is the murder, but there is love, and the murder-part is not gory. It's all very slapstick, it's all very fast-moving."

Though the show is only four years old, van Zyll de Jong admits that with British accents and patter songs, GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE is not exactly what people usually think of when discussing modern musicals. However, after a year and a half on the road, he knows that if audiences put aside their preconceived ideas of what a new musical should be, they're going to enjoy themselves.

"You're not seeing a WICKED, or you're not seeing a ROCK OF AGES, you're not seeing a loud show," he said. "You're seeing a show that's saying; 'We're modern, but we kind of harken to something else. Come with us on this journey, listen to us, you're gonna laugh, you're gonna love it. Come with us, because we are fun, we're a little mischievous.'"

While getting his degree in Music at the University of Miami, concentrating on opera and classical voice, van Zyll de Jong realized that performing wasn't the path that he wanted to take, but he knew that he wanted to continue to work with performers somehow.

"When I started having issues of my own, performance anxiety and realizing this isn't the kind of life that I wanted for myself," he said, "I still wanted to be involved, and I still wanted to feel as if I was doing something to help the people who could do that, because I knew how hard it is."

Through a connection developed while singing at a South Florida church, when van Zyll de Jong moved north to get his Master's Degree at NYU, he landed an internship with the Broadway production of CHICAGO, and after a year, he was offered the opportunity to be the Assistant Company Manager on the show's national tour. It didn't take long for him to realize that the job was a perfect fit for him.

"I've always been kind of that Type-A, dotting all the I's, crossing all the T's guy," he said "It always spoke to me, because even though my background was more in the classical realm... I've always wanted to be someone who supported the artists."

While most theatre fans have a general understanding of what a show's stage manager or lighting technician or dance captain does, a company manager's responsibilities aren't as widely understood.

"If it doesn't happen on stage, or if it isn't part of what's happening artistically or technically, it falls to the company manager," van Zyll de Jong explained. "So, all of the business parts of the show, financial oversight, accounts payable/receivable contracts, benefits, other traditional HR services. We are the travel agents, we are the logistics person, we're often the morale officer and party planner.

"That's actually a part of the job that I take pretty seriously. We all have to live out here on the road, and we want to make that as enjoyable as possible. A happy company is always a better show, in my opinion."

Van Zyll de Jong describes himself as "a bit of a wanderer," so he finds himself naturally suited for the touring life, but as the experience with this company comes to an end next month, he realizes that the GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE tour was special.

"It's been a pretty wonderful experience," he said. "We've had a very tight-knit group of people; we're all very supportive of one another. It's very different to be on a comedy than it is to be on a drama, or a more serious show. In some ways it makes life a little easier in that way.

"(Actors) don't have to go into those places in their minds every day, and we're all here to make people laugh, we're here to tell a wonderful story in that process, and everyone on this team is about that. For me, a company manager who values the morale part of the job, it's nice to come in every day and see smiling faces, and to see people who are excited to go do what they're about to do on stage."

For the GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE company that opens a week-long tour stop in Orlando tomorrow night, that entails a face-paced, humorous musical that is unlike anything else you are likely to see on Broadway or on the road.

"The company really does just draw you in," van Zyll de Jong stated. "They say, 'Be with us, we all just want to laugh for two-and-a-half hours.'"

To purchase tickets to A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER at the Dr. Phillips Center, visit the venue's website or call 844-513-2014.

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Banner Credit: Kristen Beth Williams, Kevin Massey, and Kristen Hahn. Photo Credit: Joan Marcus