The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
at Lakewood Playhouse
reviewed by Michael Dresdner
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Pictured, top: Melissa Thayer and Blake York; bottom: Jen Akrum and Joseph Grant. Photos courtesy Lakewood Playhouse.
The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 is a lush, beautiful tableau
of dazzling costumes, an intricate set, and a spate of characters from the
gritty yet glamorous pre-war era. As it opens, a maid is stabbed to death.
Gory, right? Nope. Hilarious. The victim, played by a master
of physical comedy, creates a chuckle-invoking death routine, then keeps the
laughs going as the murderer props and drags her contorting body hither and yon
before taking it offstage.
You see, in spite of it’s name, this is far less a murder
mystery than a complete comic romp; think “The Pink Panther” meets the Marx
Brothers.
Act one sets up the basic storyline. The personnel of a
play, including actors, director, producer and composer, gather at the home of
a potential backer, ostensibly to do a presentation of a musical. They soon
realize that many of them are from a previous play closed due to a mysterious
killer who knocked off fellow theatrical denizens, and that he or she is
probably in their midst today. Sounds spooky, right?
Well, it’s not. In fact, now that you know the story line,
you can forget it, because by the time act two gears up, we find that most of
the characters are not who they say they are. What was set up as a
straightforward murder mystery is quickly replaced with fast paced lunacy.
There are frenetically mimed instructions to control a
befuddled woman trying to explain inconsistencies, a half naked struggle for a
gun easily misread as an energetic bout of copulation on a desk, and a rash of
comings and goings in a maze of tunnels accessed through a group of cleverly
hidden secret doors. And through it all, there’s a steady stream of great set
ups and comic one liners.
But most of all there are characters who are…, well,
complete characters.
We have the maid (Melissa Thayer), who in spite of having
seemingly been killed, sticks around through the whole play, continuing to
display the superb comic talent she opened with. The owner of the home and potential
backer (Liz Tomski) introduces a cop (Mark Peterson) as her servant to the
theatrical group of visitors. Said visitors drift in through a snowstorm and
include an Irish (?) tenor (Blake York), a foppish, tonsorial director (Joseph
Grant), an ingenuous chorus girl (Jen Akrum), a stand up comic (Matt Garry), a
stuffy producer (Virginia Yanoff), a flamboyantly gay musical director (Jeffrey
Weaver), and a histrionic lush of a lyricist (Jen Aylsworth).
You’ll notice that I didn’t bother with their character
names, because too many change both names and personas before this is over.
There’s also no sense calling out singularly superb performances, because this
is a true ensemble piece, and they were all truly outstanding, both separately
and together. In fact, part of what makes this work is perfect timing and
delivery in both actions and lines, a tribute both to the actors and director
James Venturini.
The support is no less. John Munn designed a beautiful and
fiendishly clever set that expertly hides a wealth of hidden doors. Costumer
Diane Runkle pulled out all the stops, dressing the cast in gorgeous and spot
on period clothes. Even the wonderful props, by Karrie Nevin, get into the
comic act.
By now you should be largely confused, convinced you know
precious little about this play, right? Fair enough; I’ll clarify by telling
you there are only two things you really need to know.
First, The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
at Lakewood Playhouse is a convoluted, high energy farce that will leave you laughing
and delighted by the time the final curtain falls. Second, you should
definitely go to see it. But get your tickets soon. This one will surely fill
the seats once word gets out.
The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
April 27 to May
20,2012
Lakewood
Playhouse
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