With ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder’ The Production Company has broadened its appeal with a very different and very funny new comedy making its Australian debut.
‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder’ is currently a Broadway smash. It will appeal to lovers of British comedy. It is interesting Chris Ryan has a character called Monty. His delivery is Monty Pythonesque as he channels somewhere in-between John Cleese and Rik Mayall.
Mitchell Butel, who plays the eight members of the D’Ysquith family has almost as many costumes changes as Cher for his role as the eight characters including Lady Hyacinth D’Ysquith and Lady Salome D’Ysquith Pumphrey.
A special mention goes to theatre legend Nancye Hayes AM who returns to The Production Company in the role of Miss Shingle (and offers a few twists along the way).
The production is also Monty Pythonesque in style with blood splatters (I do believe) debuting in the Production Company show giving the audience both shock and laughs simultaneously.
As always with The Production Company shows live music is part of every show. For this one Kellie Dickerson had the role of musical director leading an orchestra featuring piano, violin, viola, cello, bass, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, horn and percussion.
The musical laugh for the night comes from the song ‘Better With A Man’ from the Henry (Butel) and Monty (Ryan) characters. The double meaning with Henry’s not so obvious sexuality and attraction to Monty had the crowd laughing in all the right places.
Technology is also a star of ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder’ with the latest digital technology being used for instant set changes. This level of technology was first seen in Australia in ‘Hairspray’ in 2011 and is now becoming cost-effective for shows like ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder’. The on-the-fly set changes gives momentum to the production.
‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder’ is the final production in the 2018 The Production Company season following seasons of ‘Oklahoma’ and ‘The Boy From Oz’ earlier this year.
2018 also marked 20 years of The Production Company, the company started by Jeanne Pratt and Ken Mackenzie-Forbes to give quality shows from local actors to the people of Melbourne. The Production Company is truly an Arts treasure and contributes to the unique Arts community in Victoria, a community not found anywhere else in Australia.
The 2019 season is now being planned. Expect an announcement late February or early March.
Love, Murder and plenty of killer laughs! We challenged our cast to cram all the craziness of A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder in less than 40 seconds… ?#TPC20 #TPCGGLAM pic.twitter.com/QOjsw1rzdZ
— Production Company (@prodcompany) October 25, 2018
For news as it happens follow Noise11 on Facebook
Listen to the Noise11 Music News channel now at iHeartRadio
