” A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder”

Highly Recommended ***** Porchlight Music Theatre has done it again! Despite the chill outside last night, a full house made it to The Ruth Page Center for the Arts to view the opening night performance of  “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder”, a whimsical musical with book and lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and lyrics and music by Steve Lutvak., that won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2014. It is indeed a charming story, based on the book, ” Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal” by Roy Horniman and the film of 1949 “Kind Hearst and Cornets” that starred Sir Alec Guinness ( one of Britain’s finest character actors). The play tells the story of Monty Navarro (deftly handled by Andres Enriquez) who seems to be on the stage for the entire 2 plus hours ( there is an intermission, where he probably changes shirts), who it seems is heir to a family fortune, but must pass by eight others to get there.

If he can eliminate those pesky, and unknown to him, relatives, he will live the life that they took away from him by disowning his mother. He must also juggle his mistress , Sibella ( a wonderful performance by Emily Goldberg, whose eyes I find hypnotic) and later his fiancée , Phoebe ( the delightful Ann Delaney) who is one of the cousins in this huge family, and of course, being caught in his efforts to gain the status he so deserves. The ensemble is deserving of great praise as they change costumes and characters lickety split. They are Caron Buines, Ryan Dooley, William Dwyer, Megan Elk, Sharriese Hamilton, Rachel Klippel, Michael Reyes, Adam Ross Brody and Phoebe Moore. Terrific work, great voices!

There is one more cast member. This actor plays all of the remaining D’Ysquith family members. Matt Crowle, who is quite the song and dance man truly steals the show with his charm and wit and the ability to leave the stage as one characters and return as another in the blink of an eye. I do not see dressers listed in the program, but they should be getting a standing ovation for their work backstage. In the final supper scene, the performances by Ms Hamilton and Mr. Crowle is magnificent. I almost thought they might br breaking up, but Ms Goldberg came to the rescue. This is just that type of comedy.

Directed and choreographed by Stephen Schellhardt, this zany comedy moves swiftly and keeps us in the story at all times. Even the chill of the crew evidently opening a door to move set pieces off stage did not take us away from the beauty of telling this incredible story. The musical direction (Andrea Velis-Simon) is superb and her six musicians :Justin Amolsch (trumpet/french horn), Yulia Block (percussion), Mike Matlock (bassoon/english Horn),Kedgrick Pullums, Jr , (clarinet/oboe), Elena Spiegel (violin), Kelsee Vandervall (cello) and Ms Simon on the piano/conductor- great work!

The music will not be memorable, but there are times you might think this could have been a Sondheim work ( I think Freedman and Lutvak are fans of his) or even a touch of Gilbert and Sullivan ( yes, it almost seems like a “light opera/operetta) , but the words of the songs will keep you into the story and the set (Angela Weber Miller) is masterful in allowing the story to move from place to place with no interuptions. Jeff Hendry’s costumes are perfect and the lighting (Denise Karczewski)  and sound (Robert Hornbostel) flawless. Anthony Churchill’s projections help in keeping the story as if we are reading it as it happens and the props (Mealah Hedenreich) are well done. This is a true ensemble piece where timing is of the greatest importance and Schellhardt and his cast are a delight to watch.

“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder” will continue at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, located at 1016 N. Dearborn Street thru March 16th with performances as follows:

Thursday  7:30 p.m.

Fridays  8 p.m.

Saturdays  4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Sundays 2 p.m. (3/3 and 3/10)  6 p.m. (February and March 10th only)

added matinees Thursday 2/21 and 2/28 at 1:30 p.m.

NO PERFORMANCES 2/28 and 3/7 at 7:30 p.m.

Feb 2nd at 4 p.m.

Tickets range from $39-$66 are can be ordered by calling773-777-9884 or visiting www.porchlighttheatre.org

Parking in the area is metered, but they do offer valet parking at $15 right in front of the entrance. Put this one on you MUST SEE list!

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder”.