DETROIT — Tony Award winner, “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder” is now playing at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit from October 4-16.
Act One begins when an unexpected visitor, Marianna Shingle (Jennifer Smith) arrives at Monty D’Ysquith Navarro’s (Kevin Massey) house, after the funeral of his mother, Isabelle. She claims to know Isabelle and informs him that he was disinherited of the family’s fortune. However, he discovers that he is eighth in line of succession. So then, he sets out to eliminate the pesky relatives one by one.
John Rapson plays all of the other relatives, from the priest with the bad breath to another dying from a bee sting. While watching this, I thought of all the quick costume changes he had to make.
All the while this was going on, Monty was juggling two women; his mistress, Sibella (Kristen Beth Williams), who is a money grubbing ……, well you get the picture. The other woman is Phoebe (Kristen Hahn) who is his cousin and fiance. Go figure. The two women sing a duet called “That Horrible Woman.”
The second Act begins with “Why are all the D’Ysquiths dying?” So what happens at the end of the play? You’ll have to see it to find out. This daring, naughty British comedy will have your sides splitting.
The play had a 20-minute intermission between the Acts. “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder” features a book and lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and music and lyrics by Steven Lutvak.
The first Act was kind of slow moving. However, the second Act was more exciting. Overall, a great evening at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit.
Performance times are Tuesday through Saturday evening at 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m., with a Sunday evening performance at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $39 (including facility and parking fees) and are now on sale at the Fisher Theatre, 3011 West Grand Blvd., Detroit. Also at all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at 800-982-2787 and online at www.broadwayindetroit.com.