Review: A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder Tour at the Fox Theatre
Erin Karll
- OnStage St. Louis Critic
This season opened at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis with the Tony award winning "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder". After seeing the 'Tony' performance and some amazing YouTube clips posted by the show I was ready for a good laugh and some intrigue. This production did not disappoint.
The show is set in London,1909, and tells the story of the D'Yaquith family. They are a noble family and have their share of secrets. Mainly sung through operatic style the drama and comedy are fitting the set of a stage on the stage. Full of large asides the audience was kept on the edge of their seats, and rolling in the aisle laughing. The voices of this cast are stunning. The high notes, the one liners, and the physical comedy all happening in one scene make this show a delight.
Standouts in the cast were Kevin Massey (Monty Navarro), John Rapson (members of the D'Yaquith family) and Kristen Hahn (at my performance playing Phoebe D'Yaquith). Massey was impressive using physical comedy that played to the back of the large theatre. Rapson made me forget that he was covering so many roles, and received a long ovation during curtain call when they were all revealed. Hahn and Massey had great chemistry. The standout scene of the show was the "I Decided to Marry You." with Hahn, Massey, and Kristen Beth Williams (Sibella Hallward). I was impressed by the ensemble members also. At curtain call when the whole cast came out I was surprised, and my neighbor also commented on the small size of the cast, but the quality of the chorus work.
Overall the show is funny and uses dry humor. I honestly made some strong connections to Monty Python during some of the scenes.
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder runs until September 25th. For ticket and show details check out fabulousfox.com.
Photo: Kristen Beth Williams, from left, as Sibella Hallward, Kevin Massey as Monty Navarro and Adrienne Eller as Phoebe D'Ysquith in a scene from "A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder." (Joan Marcus)