A Gentleman’s Guide to
Love and Murder
[Devin Dayley]
Cast led by:
James Bounous as Montague “Monty” Navarro
Robert Moffat as D’Ysquith Family
General Summary:
Monty Navarro is a poor Englishman in the early 1900’s. When he is told of his secret bloodline that makes him in line to become an Earl, he secretly kills off the other successors until he is named the Earl. All while this is happening, he falls in love with a woman he has met in the midst of his conquests while maintaining a relationship with a married woman who he has had relations with for some time.
Review:
Like my previous theater review, I will review the cast first then talk about the show as a whole. I was astonished by the talent of this cast! Since this was a local theater production, I expected the talent to be decent at best. I expected to walk out of the theater thinking eh, that was fun. I would be interested in seeing a real production of this show. Oh, how I was mistaken. Sidenote- I realized, just, now, the I often go to things- theater, movies, etc. with low expectations and am surprised when my low expectations are exceeded. James Bounous, who I had seen previously in a production of Newsies, was great in the role of the titular character of Monty. Robert Moffat, who plays multiple characters in the show was awe-inspiring. He often has but mere seconds to run off-stage and return a completely different character. Plus, he has to sing, which adds to the complexity of his job of an actor.
Any actor that could fully inhabit a new character in just seconds, mannerisms and all tells the skill of the actor attempting to play this role. The rest of the ensemble was fantastic as well. Brittany Sanders and Cecily Ellis-Bills, who play Sibella and Phoebe, respectively, were great in their roles. They were good enough that I found myself thinking that they were good enough to be in a professional, travelling troupe or on Broadway. There were only 11 people in the whole cast and every one of them was great!
Okay, now talking about the show. It was fun to see a show about murder, which is quite a serious subject, done in the context of a comedy, a lighthearted genre. Furthermore, I liked seeing this type of story shown on-stage. I mean, a man killing people to get the riches that come with being an Earl? That stuff really happened. And I know that this particular story wasn’t real, but there are stories like this one that are true. Being totally engrossed in a play is good for the mind and teaches people learn how to use their imaginations to fill in the gaps to make sure they are mentally in the time period being shown on-stage.
It’s also refreshing to see a piece of theater where the main character doesn’t get his “just desserts” at the end of the show. We, as humans, are taught that people who do bad things need to get caught and pay for their crimes against humanity. Well, I hope I am not the first person to burst this bubble for anyone reading this, but they don’t, always. So it is refreshing, relax, I’m not saying it’s good, it’s just refreshing to have the main character, who has committed multiple murders, not pay for his crimes.
I would give this an 8.2/10. It is niche to those people who already like musical theater. It is a neat story but if you don’t enjoy theater, you probably won’t enjoy this.
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