Review: GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER at White Theatre At The JCC

“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” is a very funny idea and the 2014 Tony winner for best new Musical.  It is currently playing at the White Theatre inside the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park through March 24.

“Gentleman’s Guide” is a madcap family drama with pretty good music based on early Edwardian operettas and sung by some excellent cast voices.  Let me try to get you up to date.

At the opening curtain (and this show actually has a curtain), we meet Monty Navarro (Mathew Briggs).  Monty has just returned to his humble rooms after Mom Issabella’s funeral.  There is a knock at the front door.  A woman, who identifies herself as a friend of his recently deceased Mom, Miss Shingle (Susan Campen), wants to share a story.

Monty, unknown to him. Is actually shirttail relation to a powerful family of British nobility.  Monty’s Mom has been written out the family canon because she fell in love and married a Spanish musician. In fact, it turns out that Monty is ninth in line of succession to the local Earldom.  Miss Shingle has the documents to back up her claim. We won’t see Miss Shingle again for some time, but don’t forget her completely. She may have an agenda.

Flash forward. We find Monty writing a journal at a writing desk downstage right. He has been charged with murder and on the oft chance he might be found guilty, he is committing his true story to a diary.

Flashback.  Miss Shingle has departed.  Monty has had a tough go in life.  He decides to write to his long- lost, rich, banker relatives, the D’Ysquiths, identify himself, and ask for a job. 

It also turns out that Monty has a girlfriend named Sibella (Cara Hampton).  She is a real looker.  Sibella has the voice of an angel and says she loves Monty dearly. But she is also an admitted gold-digger.  She may or may not love Monty but in either event makes it quite clear that living in wealth is her priority.

Monty hears back to his letter in the negative and in a threatening way from the family.   He is disappointed but accepting.  Out of curiosity. Monty decides to investigate.   Like many noble families in the UK, tours of large country homes are allowed for a fee.  Monty takes the tour. 

On one leg of the tour, we find ourselves in the family hall. The audience is intended to notice a remarkable family resemblance between the various paintings.  They are depictions of each of the eight relatives ahead of Monty in the family succession.  

They are the Earl, Lord Adlabert, his son (a mean dandy), Lord Ezekiel (a clergyman), Henry (a country squire and beekeeper), Lady Hyacinth (a professional fake-philanthropist), Major Lord Batholomew (a body-builder), Lady Salome (an actress), and Chauncey (a janitor).   The resemblance is not surprising because with the help of costumes, wigs, and props, they are all played by the same actor (Reed Uthe).

After being chased out of the hall, Monty takes a chapel tour conducted by the Rev. Lord Ezekiel.  Monty bares his heart to the clergyman and asks for help.  The Reverend chooses not to be involved.  They are inspecting the chapel bell tower when Lord Ezekiel loses his balance.  Freeze frame.  An idea forms in Monty’s imagination.  Should he help the struggling Reverend regain his balance or let him fall to his death?  There would be one less person in the family succession.  Maybe succession could be managed one way or another. Hmmm…

Reed Uthe plays eight of the ten D’Ysquith family characters. This is an extremely difficult task. All the (Reed Uthe) characters are horse’s patoots in very different ways, save one.  The actor who plays them all must differentiate between each.   He must have a villain’s glint in his eye, because the gag only works if the audience is in on the joke. 

I’ve wracked my brain for similar acting challenges and could think of three. They happen to be performed by three very fine actors who have since passed on.  They are Rene Auberjonois in “Charley’s Aunt,” Robert Preston in “Victor, Victoria,” and Tony Randall in “The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao.”

The nineth D’Ysquith is Monty who by hook or crook or coincidence offs the other eight characters.  Is he a cold-blooded sociopath or a good guy caught in an impossible situation?   I think I’d like him to be the Bobby Morse character from “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying” or David Wayne as Og from “Finian’s Rainbow.”     

The last and tenth D’Ysquith is Phoebe (Abby Downs).  She is Henry’s (The Beekeeper) sister.   After his untimely passing from angry bees, she is attracted to and eventually marries Monty after he achieves the Earldom.  She is the only member of this family who is unabashedly good. Audience members may judge who they want these characters to be.  I leave that up to you individually. 

Mathew Briggs, Cara Hampden, and Abby Downs are all superior performers.  The ensemble is excellent.  Reed Uthe (as most of the rest of the cast) is hard to judge as a singer because he performs mainly patter songs as very different characters.

Costumes by Patricia Berning are excellent.  Scenic Charge by Bethany Elliot with gag portraits on the fake proscenium are clever. Projections by Jeremy Smith are well done. Orchestra led by Cassie Nguyen is very good.  The director is Ashton Botts.

“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” is written by Robert Freeman and Steven Lutvak adapted from a novel by Roy Horniman.  It continues through March 24.  Tickets are available online at www.thejkc.org or by telephone at 913-327-8054.

Photos courtesy of the White Theatre and CierreDeniseCreative.

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