Rachel Powers plays the role of Sibella in "A Gentleman's Guide to Love at Murder," a Music Theatre of Wenatchee Production which debuts Oct. 20 at Riverside Playhouse.
Actor Kevin McKee plays eight characters in the D'Ysquith family who all die in "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" by Music Theatre of Wenatchee.
Rachel Powers plays the role of Sibella in "A Gentleman's Guide to Love at Murder," a Music Theatre of Wenatchee Production which debuts Oct. 20 at Riverside Playhouse.
Actor Kevin McKee plays eight characters in the D'Ysquith family who all die in "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" by Music Theatre of Wenatchee.
WENATCHEE — Music Theatre of Wenatchee will present the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” at Riverside Playhouse on three consecutive weekends starting Oct. 20.
At a Monday night rehearsal, the actors were asked to deliver their favorite line of the show, which has book and lyrics by Robert L. Freedman with music and lyrics by Steven Lutvak. A busy ensemble of nine guides this story about a questionable gentleman named Monty (Skyler Cuthill), his flighty love interest Sibella (Rachel Powers), and one singular actor (Kevin McKee) who plays each member of the wealthy D’Ysquith family.
Actor Cathy Bronson said her favorite line comes from the prologue: “This is a tale of revenge and retribution, so if you’re smart, before we start, you’d best depart.” Based on the rehearsal’s run-through of the first act — even being the first time to perform “off book” or from memory without a script — the rapid rhymes and word-play delivered in British accents are already clear and entertaining. The songs are catchy and kooky, if verging on the politically incorrect, said Kailen Duffield.
The meek yet murderous protagonist Cuthill sings lyrics at a quick pace, such as “With the precision of a violinist I am sawing where I think the ice is thinnest to create a hole through which the tragic lovers meet their doom!” This scenic design has a winter landscape for ice-skaters, created by painted, dimensional set pieces, which are moved on and off the narrow stage at Riverside Playhouse.
McKee will impressively perform eight different deaths in a funny fashion — splashing around and sinking a few times for the ice-skating rink drowning incident for instance. Each murder gets more ridiculous. Actors Kailen Duffield and Katelin Limon said their favorite lines are as reporters who say, “Times of London, late edition: ‘Society lady disappears in darkest Africa’ and ‘Society lady escapes from cannibals.’”
One of the songs in this Grammy-award winner for Best Musical Theater Album is “Why Are All the D’Ysquiths Dying?” by the ensemble of actors who have to gather at yet another funeral, all due to the mysterious murders which Monty carries out to claim an inheritance.
Of course, the title also promises love, but it is an unfortunate kind. “Oh, Monty, I do love you!” says Powers in the play, “And if I had not been so sure that you loved me, I should not have risked marrying Lionel.”
Directed by John Mausser, this show is for fans of musicals that are filled with tongue-twisters and outrageous plot twists.
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