GENTLEMEN'S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER -- Previews

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 1:56am

Very interested in hearing how the show goes and what it's about. Anyone gonna be there tonight, or soon?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 2:20am

Good god completely slipped my mind that this was starting tonight. I have not seen or heard anything in a while.

[Emmaloucbway]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 6:29am

I'm going on Saturday. Very excited!

[Stevil907]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 6:35am

I am also going Saturday - looking very forward to this one.

[Addison D.]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 8:29am

I'm seeing it next week--Thursday, I think.

I've seen this show evolve through its many incarnations, obstacles and heartbreaks along the way. It's a knockout--smart and funny, and Jefferson Mays is exactly what the show needed to make it shine.

Mark my words--Steve Lutvak is going to win his first Tony with this show.

Updated On: 10/22/13 at 08:29 AM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 8:32am

I'm going tonight and am looking forward to it.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 3:41pm

Mark my words--Steve Lutvak is going to win his first Tony with this show.

What about Robert Freedman? What is he--chopped liver?

[saulssweetie]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 4:11pm

I'm going tonight as well. Super excited! Kind Hearts and Coronets is one of my favorites.

[dented146]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 4:13pm

I hope you don't find it as slow and boring and depressing as I did.---Just kidding! Have fun everyone.

[Addison D.]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 5:00pm

PJ--You make a good point. Yes; Robert 'Chopped Liver' Freedman will win as well.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 5:42pm

I've heard nothing but good things about this. Can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts.

[Broadwaystar2]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 9:42pm

Intermission Now! And I must report...IT'S BRILLIANT!!! I'll give further review after!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 10:01pm

Oh yay!

[Kad]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 10:06pm

Long first act, no?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 10:13pm

OH YES! Always love to hear a new show is something great Can't wait to hear more from the others

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 10:14pm

The set looks pretty cool!

[Wicked Fanatic]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 10:25pm

Glad to see the set used in Hartford and San Diego is in tact. Anyone sitting in front of the walkway as I did in San Diego will be enthralled with the singers when they perform there. Can't wait to hear more when the 1st performance is over.

[saulssweetie]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:01pm

Just left the theatre. Had an absolutely wonderful time. I really can't wait to see it again. And the actors were very nice at the stage door.

[SayitSomehow]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:23pm

Was there tonight as well. Definitely a fun and wonderful night of theater.

I didn't love it through and through - the parts that aren't full-on comedy drag and feel a bit unnecessary (which for me was all of Sibella's songs, and several others in the first act).

The music sounds lovely and the lyrics are quite clever. They've done an amazing job at phrasing and fitting complex delivery into jovial, theatrical period melodies.

The entire cast works hard and the two leads put on a heck of a show. I was especially impressed with Bryce and his lovely voice - carrying the show like a champ with no first preview slip-ups at all. And Jefferson is just... wow. He must be tired when he gets home.

I think fans of the musical comedy genre will find a ton to love here, but the average theater-goer might be a bit bored by a lot of it. Hopefully in previews they can tighten up the pacing and keep the momentum from falling off sporadically. Unfortunately I think it would require cutting songs, but I'm not sure the show's structure allows for that.

Definitely worth seeing. The moments where it soars generally outweigh the in-between lulls.



Updated On: 10/22/13 at 11:23 PM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:41pm

There has been so much positive buzz about this show and I was genuinely excited to finally see it for myself this evening. I don't mean to pull an After Eight and rain on everyone's parade, but I didn't find much about it to like.

The two things I do think deserve high praise are the sets and the costumes. I was reminded of Drood the second I walked into the theater, and I think the show will largely be compared to the revival last year regarding the design. There is a smaller stage onstage, but it's a red herring when it comes to there being a show within a show. It's only used as an alternate to having scenes performed in one. Everything is beautiful to look at and not done on the cheap (or if it was done on the cheap you can't tell!).

The costumes are gorgeous, especially for the two leading women. They both get to wear fantastic hats in the final scenes of the night.

I wasn't very taken with the score. It's respectable and competent; the songs are all in the right place and so forth, but there is a sameness to the numbers and none of the tunes hooked me. The worst offense might be that Jefferson Mays' roles are not well musicalized. For all the talk of this being a tour-de-force part, it makes it difficult when he doesn't have the musical support to stop the show. (The biggest applause of the night by far came for a trio with Pinkham and the two female leads.)

For those not familiar with plot, Bryce Pinkham finds out he is part of the D'Ysquith family and is ninth in line to become an Earl. He decides to kill the eight heirs in front of him and Jefferson Mays plays all the heirs. By nature the show is going to be episodic as the heirs are introduced and then sent to their demise. This isn't going to allow for much character development, causing it to serve solely as an actors showcase. I think that's fine, but the situation could be helped by intertwining Pinkham with the other heirs and inserting himself more into the methods of their deaths. I thought Mays' role was going to be one of epic portions, perhaps even having eight wild numbers that culminated in a different death. That isn't the case though.

Pinkham and two females (Lisa O'Hare and Lauren Worsham) carry the bulk of the score, and they all have lovely voices.

The pacing and the aspects of farce need to ratcheted up several notches. Things need to get a lot zanier. I kept wishing there was a scene with a room that had many doors and Mays running from door to door with wild costume quick changes. I just didn't find it very funny; I was expecting a One Man, Two Guvnors type humor, but this wasn't warm. It was cold and intellectual.

I really, really wanted to like this. I think there will be many people who do like it, but I couldn't connect to the characters and was disappointed.

[Broadwaystar2]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:46pm

You DO realize this was the FIRST preview. So to say you wanted to like it is pretty premature no?

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:52pm

I very much realize it was the first preview.

What's premature about wanting to like it? There was a near rave review from Isherwood in the Times for the out of town try-out at Hartford Stage. There were also multiple reports from posters here and friends that I trust/normally agree with, declaring it to be wonderful. With all this buzz why are you surprised that I would go into this wanting to like it?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:55pm

First preview of a show that has had two out of town tryouts and a lot of hype coming into NYC. Maybe that hype set my expectations too high, but I was supremely disappointed. I went in wanting to love it but It's just not very well crafted and for many of the reasons Whizzer outlines isn't nearly as clever or funny as it should be. The cast is game and it's pretty to look at but I think this is going to have a tough time selling in NYC. The score is completely mediocre...

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:58pm

That is a bit of a letdown but I'm still excited to see it. Nice to see a new musical that's kind of old fashioned.

I too was expecting a more One Man, Two Guvenors type thing.

[SayitSomehow]

Posted: 10/23/13 at 12:13am

Good points by Whizzer. I'm just kind of baffled by why the first 15-20 minutes of the show had zero humor and several of the musical numbers and chorus numbers didn't go for laughs either - many of the songs are content to just... be. With so much comedic potential and such strong writing/acting chops I felt they should have integrated comedy into every inch of this thing, Book of Mormon style. Go all out!