If you're looking for a musical with the laurels of Downton Abbey and the morals of a mongoose, look no further! A Gentleman's Guide To Love & Murder-the new comedy of manners (well, bad manners) that has won unanimous raves
Monty Navarro has just received some really great news! He's a long-lost member of a noble family and could become the next Earl of Highhurst. There are only eight minor issues, namely the other relatives who precede him in line for the title. So Monty does what any ambitious, highborn gentleman would do: he sets out to eliminate them one by one, all while juggling his mistress (she's after more than just love), his fiancee (she's his cousin, but who's keeping track?), plus the constant threat of landing behind bars! But it will all be worth it if he can slay his way into Highhurst Castle... and be done in time for tea.
Tony winner Jefferson Mays (I Am My Own Wife, Gore Vidal's The Best Man) gives one of the most gasp-inducing performances ever attempted on the American stage, playing all eight doomed heirs who meet their ends in the most creative and hilarious ways. Mays leads a knockout cast alongside the delightfully debonair Bryce Pinkham (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) as Monty, the scoundrel whose greatest weapon is his charm. Don't miss this unabashedly raucous new show that Charles Isherwood of The New York Times calls "among the most inspired and entertaining new musicals I've seen in years!"
The droll tone and Edwardian setting should lure BBC fans, but this 'Guide' has nothing on 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood' - the 1985 caper musical that was successfully revived last year. Problem No. 1 is Freedman and composer Steven Lutvak's score, a collection of innocuous music-hall pastiches. The lyrics can be fun, as in 'I Don't Understand the Poor,' sung by the fox-hunting blowhard Lord Adalbert: 'Though my politics are purely democratical/I find the species, frankly, problematical.'...The pacing is uneven as well...Meanwhile, the charmless Pinkham - much better as the villain in 'Ghost: The Musical' - basically functions as a placeholder during Mays' costume changes.
Cinephiles will know that Horniman's 'Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal' is also the basis for the 1949 British film 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' in which Alec Guinness famously plays the eight murdered victims of a distant relative who feels he deserves to be the Duke of D'Ascoyne...Bryce Pinkham in 'Gentleman's Guide,' on the other hand, is a stage animal who defines the term 'handsome devil.' As Monty Navarro, he has more than a bit of the imp in him - as if he were Marty Feldman's younger, much better looking brother. Plus he possesses a sumptuous singing voice. Taking over for Guinness, Jefferson Mays can now claim title to the most oft-murdered man in Broadway history. He does Guinness one better, playing not just eight but nine characters. He doesn't erase the memory of Guinness, but you won't miss Guinness either. The musical is a showcase for Mays's many faces, but it is Pinkham who must-and does - carry the evening.
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