A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Posted: August 7, 2014 Filed under: Becca Doodle - Happy, Broadway, Comedy, Musical | Tags: agentlemansguidetoloveandmurder, bestmusical, broadway, bryncepinkham, comedy, gentlemansguide, jeffersonmays, mysteryofedwindrood, review, slapstick, tonyawards, tonywinner Leave a comment
What a jolly good time! What’s that you say? An entirely new musical? Original writing, choreography, a wonderful cast and director, AND a success as this year’s Tony-winning Best Musical? What a breath of fresh air. A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder was the underdog of the season, despite the fantastic reviews this past fall. It simply fell in the shadow of blockbusters like Aladdin, but as the Act One Finale “The Last One You’d Expect” states, this was the musical to take home the awards this year (Best Musical, Book, Costume Design, and Direction) plus six additional Tony nominations.
Written by Robert L. Freedman (book and lyrics) and Steven Lutvak (music and lyrics – and a welcome newcomer to Broadway), Gentleman’s Guide is based on a 1907 novel by Roy Horniman. Bryce Pinkham plays the titular character, a gentleman named Monty Navarro. Monty tells his story from prison as he takes us back to how everything began – when he finds out that he is a distant relative of the royal family, the D’Ysquiths. In fact, only eight relations stand between him and the current Earl of Highhurst. Meanwhile, Jefferson Mays plays all of said relations, and after being scorned by the family, Monty begins to take them out, one by one, getting closer and closer to the Earl himself. Both men are hilarious and spot-on in their roles(sss). Monty also finds himself torn between two women, Sibella and Phoebe, played by Lisa O’Hare and Lauren Worsham respectively, who are making fantastic Broadway debuts.
To say the least, the show is a romp full of catchy, clever songs. It’s packed with mugging and “wink winks” at the audience, and it works because the jokes are solid, and the actors telling them know what they’re doing. Once your ear adjusts to the English accent, it’s pretty much non-stop laughter with comedy ranging from sly wit to full-out slapstick. To the best of my knowledge, farcical musicals are few and far between. The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the closest thing I can compare it to within the musical genre. Like Drood, this is clean and sharp. The number performed on the Tony Awards, although it seems like it’s in hyper speed taken out of context, certainly does the show justice in my book.
Another reason the show is so successful is you can tell that the cast is having a blast, too. I mean, how can you not with material like that? Murder has never been so much fun.
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Book and Lyrics by Robert L. Freedman, Music and Lyrics by Steven Lutvak, Directed by Darko Tresnjak
Walter Kerr Theatre, Open-Ended
Photo Credit: Sara Krulwich
Pictured: Jefferson Mays and the Cast of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Tony Committee Ruling
Posted: June 14, 2014 Filed under: Between Two Boroughs, Broadway, Miscellaneous, Tony Awards | Tags: petition, sound, sounddesign, tony, tonyawards, tonycommittee 3 Comments
If you haven’t yet heard (no pun intended), on Wednesday the Tony Committee eliminated the Best Sound Design of a Play and Best Sound Design of a Musical categories from next year’s award season. As you might imagine, there has been a huge backlash from the theatre community, culminating quite quickly in this petition to reinstate the categories. Now I know there is already a lot out there in terms of angry responses in the form of articles, blog posts, and social media alike, but if you’ll allow me to add a few flames to the fire…
Over the years I’m finding the Tony Awards have become more and more like a secret club that only certain people are worthy enough to be included. There has been so much concern over getting better ratings in recent years that it has consistently become more about that than celebrating theatre. To begin with, as I mentioned in my last post, you have LL Cool J rapping a Meredith Wilson song instead of dedicating time to a number from the Tony-winning score of The Bridges of Madison County (re: Steven Pasquale’s tweet). Jason Robert Brown certainly let people know his thoughts on the matter in his thank you speech. Or we get a song from Sting’s The Last Ship or J-Hud doing Finding Neverland (neither of which has even made it to Broadway yet) instead of giving ROCKY the proper time needed to do a full number. I’ve read in a few places that the ceremony has turned into a commercial for next season rather than a look-back at what was accomplished this year.
Then you’ve got all of the awards that aren’t considered “mainstream” enough to be aired along with the rest of the broadcast. You know, like the designers. Cause who needs lights, costumes, and sound? I remember a few years back when even more awards were added to this unaired portion, categories like Best Score, Book of a Musical, Choreography, etc. And what have we been getting in place of that? They even cut the In Memoriam segment this year from the main broadcast! I mean, come on.
And now back to the sound design issue. Every year friends and I talk about categories that should be added to the awards season: casting directors, stage managers, musical directors, book of a play, best replacement, etc. We look for opportunities to honor more people. And now we’re taking things away? Sound only started getting recognized in 2008! This article touches on some of the reasoning behind the committee’s decision. I understand that it might be difficult to assess sound design, especially when often the goal is to not even notice the design at all when watching a production. “Members believe that sound design is more of a technical craft, rather than a theatrical art form.” It’s funny; I just had an intense debate with my brother Jeff last weekend about what is art versus what is entertainment. This seems like a similar debate: technical craft versus art. What deserves to be honored? What makes a design one and not the other?
When this ruling was announced, my friend Jenn (the brilliant director of a little play called The Understudy) and I immediately started discussing just how integral our sound designer (the fantastic Ien DeNio) was to our show. Sure it’s a technical skill, but her work was a vital part of the artistic process as well. For example, there were these three enormous set changes in the play, and it was a last-minute decision during tech (per Ien’s suggestion) to add sound. She had a very specific idea in mind for what would work, and because she had been a part of the artistic contribution from the beginning, we trusted her to take the idea and run with it. This addition of sound ended up filling in the spaces and further enhancing the world we had built together with the entire creative team.
In honor of the sound designers out there (and all of the others who have yet to be recognized in the main ceremony, if at all), please consider signing this petition to reinstate these awards. Okay, I’m stepping off my Broadway soapbox now. Thanks for listening.
What do you think about the committee’s decision?
Tony Tony Tony: A Recap
Posted: June 13, 2014 Filed under: Broadway, Musical, Play, Revival, Tony Awards, Videos | Tags: aladdin, alancumming, audra, audramcdonald, beautiful, bridges, broadway, cabaret, caroleking, gentlemansguide, hedwig, hughjackman, idinamenzel, if/then, jamesmonroeiglehart, jeffersonmays, jessiemueller, kelliohara, lenahall, neilpatrickharris, nph, rocky, stevenpasquale, suttonfoster, tony, tonyawards, winners, wolverine 1 Comment
So I know I’m beyond behind on my reviews, but I figure we should take a moment to discuss Sunday night’s Tony Awards. Did you watch? DVR it for later? I got comfortable in my pajamas and sat back to enjoy an evening of theatre. Here’s a brief look at my take on some of the highs and lows of the evening.
HIGHLIGHTS
Jessie Mueller! Carole King! A wonderful performance and a much-deserved win for Miss Mueller as Best Leading Actress in a Musical. I haven’t even seen the show, and I love her! I do admit that I was also deeply rooting for Kelli O’Hara as it was her fifth nomination and she certainly deserves it after all these years. Perhaps next year for The King and I? Nonetheless, Jessie has been taking the theatre community by storm ever since On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. I’m stoked for her and can’t wait to see Beautiful.
Three words: Idina. Effin. Menzel. Well, let me back up. First there was Jonathan Groff’s brilliant introduction, and then the house was subsequently brought down with her If/Then 11 o’clock number. And yet, people haven’t been talking about it! I did not see my Facebook or Twitter feed freaking out afterward. Weren’t you watching, theatre fans? Honestly, in my eyes, this may have been the performance of the evening.
Also, let’s rejoice for Best Musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder – a fantastic performance and an even more hilarious introduction by Jefferson Mays. Let’s hear it for the underdog of the season actually getting its due with its multiple wins.
Cabaret and Alan Cumming? Solid of course.
James Monroe Iglehart’s praise shout.
Lena Hall’s heartfelt speech.
I also want to give a shout-out to Sutton for always being glorious.
And that Hedwig performance?? Yes! I’m so excited to see it in a few weeks!
And perhaps the ultimate highlight of the evening: Audra. Tears. Will Swenson. Tears. Standing ovation. More tears. Making history in two ways. For those of you who don’t know the momentousness of Audra’s win on Sunday for Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, she is now the winner of the most Tony awards. She had five, tying with Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris, and now she has a whopping six, on top of the fact that she is now the only person who has won in all four performance categories! Audra McDonald = Queen of Broadway. Can she host next year?
LOWLIGHTS
Clint Eastwood and whatever that presenting was supposed to be.
The opening? I’m sorry, I just wasn’t into it. I do like how so many shows had cameos, and the awkward elevator ride with NPH was delightful, and I understand that they likely didn’t bother with a “traditional” opening number because it could never compete with last year’s. But seriously – Hugh Jackman just bouncing the whole time? Yes, I know it refers to something specific, but we’re really going to take an obscure reference and make it the centerpiece of a four-minute opening number? C’mon Tony writers, you can do better than that. You want more people to tune in? Don’t lose them in the first few minutes!
Sting, I’m bored.
Aladdin’s Friend Like Me was like watching a seizure on stage. And listen, if the funniest part of the song is when the Genie stops to sing from different Disney movies, then I think there’s an inherent problem with the show. People out there who want to spend money on Aladdin? I’m just saying – that’s the best you’re gonna get. They played their best hand on Sunday, so if you didn’t enjoy that number, you might want to reconsider your options.
Zach Braff’s hair.
I thought ROCKY was a musical. Also? Shortest fight ever.
This has been a common rant on Facebook and everywhere else so I won’t digress too long, but I will say I too am tired of the out-of-place Hollywood actors presenting. I love you Tina Fey, but why are you up there and not a Broadway vet? It’s all to improve ratings and get viewers, right? Well, ratings were lower this year. Maybe they should focus more on the theatre community and what we do best and feature more performances from the current season instead of a Music Man rap with LL Cool J and T.I.? Sure, The Bridges of Madison County closed, but couldn’t we get a song with Steven and Kelli? Anyway, more on that and the recent Tony Award Administration Committee ruling in a later post.
All in all, it was a relatively smooth evening without too many hitches, and we got to see some great numbers (go here to watch the rest of the performances). Here’s to another season of theatre!
Becca on Broadway 