Marblehead Little Theatre’s production of “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” opens this Friday, Jan. 26, and will run for eight shows.
Director Alexandra Dietrich hopes that this dark musical comedy will coax theater-lovers out despite the cold, and warm them up with laughter. A Broadway sensation from a decade ago, “A Gentleman’s Guide” tells the story of Monty Navarro, a working class Brit who finds out he is distantly related to the aristocratic D’Ysquith family, and sets out to murder his way into a weighty inheritance. He hopes that with his new wealth he will be able to woo his money-minded sweetheart, but finds himself drawn to another woman along the way.
According to Dietrich, “A Gentleman’s Guide” is “a love letter to the British musical.” Absurdly funny and melodramatic in all the right ways, it embodies the blueprint from which Broadway was created. When asked to direct this production, Dietrich said that her response was, “Immediately yes.”
Despite its popularity, “A Gentleman’s Guide” is a show that is rarely put on by smaller theaters. Quirks such as the demand for a lack of microphones make it a challenge for actors. Having directed operas as well as musical theater, Dietrich is experienced in teaching actors to use their bodies and the stage as natural amplifiers, and added that rehearsals were a bit of a boot camp for those who hadn’t sung with a microphone in a while. With “A Gentleman’s Guide,” MLT continues its tradition of bringing shows that have mostly been confined to Broadway onto a much smaller and more local stage.
Dietrich is proud of her cast and how they have adapted the show into something unique and hilarious.
“It’s a testament to the cast, how tight the comedy is,” she said. The 12 actors have been rehearsing since mid-Decemeber, and in that time have formed “a small group of people who completely trust each other.” Even in tech week, the show remained ever-changing as the actors added their own creative flairs to their characters and thought up new ways to play a scene.
“The moment you think something is done, that’s when things fall flat,” Dietrich remarked. “The joy of live theater is that anything can happen.”
“A Gentleman’s Guide” is full of surprises. The play is a web of mystery, humor and plot twists. Hidden Easter eggs might go straight over first-time viewers’ heads, and even longtime fans will be caught off guard by Dietrich’s custom twists and turns.
“The best thing about this era of mystery,” she said, “is that it takes the best of comedy and the best of surprise and creates a puzzle inside of a musical.”
Set in the Edwardian period, “A Gentleman’s Guide” has costumes and sets to match. Dietrich credits costume designer Laura Dillan with creating a complexity of signals and meanings hidden in the costumes themselves. Costume changes are a big part of the actors’ tasks during the show. The characters have a minimum of four costumes throughout the show, and a maximum of fifteen.
When asked which aspect of the production she was most proud of, Dietrich cited how well the cast embraces the melodrama and ridiculousness of the play.
“Life is so serious and hard all the time,” she said, “We should laugh more, and this show is meant as an homage to the absurd.”
