Review: 'Murder for Two' at Farmers Alley
Photo: Famers Alley
Sometimes you have to add a little holly and mistletoe to a murder, especially if you’re the co-creator of a popular two-person musical and you know people will lap up a holiday version of your show.
Farmers Alley in Kalamazoo isn’t just bringing the “Murder for Two—Holiday Version” to their stage, they’re bringing one of the co-creators to perform it. Joe Kenosian—who wrote “Murder for Two” with Kellen Blair—is playing all ten murder suspects while Brandon Lambert returns to Farmer’s Alley to be the wannabe detective after performing in the non-holiday version at the venue in 2016.
It’s a show that has always been over-the-top and ultra-aware of its role as a musical spoof. It never forgets there is an audience and never forgets that they are a performance.
Given that he created the show, it is perhaps not surprising that Kenosian is determined to kick everything into high gear and make it look as if he is improvising comedic bits on the fly. It may be all perfectly scripted and rehearsed, but Kenosian never misses an opportunity to make a big choice, whether it is creating a character by stretching his legs wider than human legs should go or dancing around the stage ballet style.
He switches between characters at lightning speed—or sometimes refuses to change characters despite the insistence of the detective.
Lambert has a lovely earnestness about him. He may be playing the protagonist and the one who changes, but he also seems perfectly content to be the foil to his ever-changing counter-part. His detective Marcus is loveable and intense and Lambert (mostly) manages to keep a straight face as Kenosian prances about the stage.
Together, the two make a great team. They effortlessly set each other up and embrace every ludicrous angle and moment of the show. The show demands a high level of energy and they more than meet the demand.
For those who have seen “Murder for Two,” the holiday edition is almost exactly the same, down to the victim, the suspects and the motives. Only now the victim’s birthday is on Christmas and the set is decorated accordingly. What makes it a holiday edition? The characters blatantly tell you at one point—they’re randomly throwing in holiday words.
It takes the spoofing to a new level—they (not-so) gently poke at all those audience-favorite shows that pretend to offer something new just so theaters can have a holiday show, but are really just recycling what they’ve already done. Only, in “Murder for Two—Holiday Edition” they abandon any pretense of being new or different and just turn the punch into egg nog and have a host worrying over who stole the candy canes.
“Murder for Two—Holiday Edition,” which features both actors providing a piano accompaniment for each other (and sometimes playing four-handed), is just the sort of romp that many of us need after the way the world has turned upside-down and the headlines constantly flog us with bad news. This is a night of hilarity and fun. There are no hidden meanings, nothing serious, nothing to ponder as you walk to the parking lot. It is an inoculation of laughter and surreal theatrical hijinks.
Kathy Mulay is listed as the directing supervisor and costume coordinator. One suspects she eschewed the title of “director” because her job was releasing the actors and making sure they didn’t break the stage or themselves. If the co-creator of the show wanted to recreate as he went along, who was she to stop him?
Whether it was Savannah Draper as the props and scenic designer or Mike Borzkowski as the technical director who created the magic toward the end of the show as the killer wreaked havoc, applause for it is well-earned. It was fabulously done and was one more piece of high comedy that kicked everything up yet another level when we all thought we were already on a skyscraper’s roof.
Jill BC Du Boff contributed further to the comedy with her sound design, as willing to go over the top as the script invited. And CJ Drenth kept pace with the actors as the sound board operator, making sure every cue was perfectly timed.
Opening the week before Thanksgiving, Farmers Alley is sating the appetite of all those who hunger for holiday fun and want an excuse to unreservedly laugh and to forget about everything heavy for a time.