Attend the tale of Monty Navarro. No, it doesn't quite scan as well as "Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd," but both Messrs. Navarro and Todd are serial killers in olde London towne. Yet, while Sweeney Todd is a frightening, vindictive murderer, Monty Navarro is a genial chap who does in his enemies with merry dispatch. It's a stretch to describe A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder as holiday entertainment, but it is something of a bejeweled ornament that helps make this season a little brighter.
The musical, now at the Golden Gate Theatre in a touring production, was an unlikely Broadway success story. Suggesting elements of Gilbert and Sullivan and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, with none of the ingredients that can help hype a show, Gentleman's Guide opened on Broadway in 2013 to favorable reviews but lackluster business. Fortunately, it was able to hang on long enough to win the Tony Award for best musical, and then ticket sales blossomed.
Robert L. Freedman's libretto is officially based on a book you never heard of, and unofficially on a movie you may recognize. The 1907 novel is Roy Horniman's dully titled Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal, which became Kind Hearts and Coronets when adapted into a classic film in 1949. Following in the tradition of the screen version in which Alec Guinness played all the murder victims, the members of a doomed noble family �" old and young, male and female �" they are also played by a single actor in the musical. The masterful Jefferson Mays (I Am My Own Wife) created the role(s) on Broadway, and a comically versatile John Rapson takes on the nine roles in the tour.
On the big stage of the Golden Gate, a bijou of a second proscenium stage with pleated drape curtains pushes forward as scenes described by the narrator unfold. That narrator is the aforementioned Monty Navarro, raised in poverty by his recently departed mother, and who learns from a busybody biddy that his mother was actually a noblewoman, disowned by the D'Ysquiths for marrying a Castilian musician. Monty, it turns out, is actually ninth in line to become Earl of Highhurst. After being rebuffed by the D'Ysquiths for even minimal recognition of his lineage, he develops increasingly ingenious, and generally hilarious, ways of eliminating heirs on his way to earldom.
In Darko Tresnjak's spry direction, the homicides are not presented as grisly affairs, except for one decapitation. A death by bee stings orchestrated by Monty plays out in the background as a scene blithely continues downstage while the hapless beekeeper runs back and forth followed by a projected swarm of bees. And the most delightful of the fatalities involves characters ice-skating with florid theatrical artificiality and Monty with an ice saw conveniently at hand.
Kevin Massey is one of the most likeable murderers you're likely to meet, as he ingratiates himself into the D'Ysquith family with easygoing charm. But even if you can look beyond his penchant for executing kinfolk, he most certainly is a cad. He can't decide between vivacious but married Sibella (a steamy Kristen Beth Williams) and the more virtuous Phoebe (sweetly played by Adrienne Eller), and one of the most hilarious scenes has Monty shuttling between rooms to keep both women satisfied and most definitely separated.
The songs by lyricist Freedman and composer Steven Lutvak tend toward a patter style, focusing more on being cleverly explanatory than musically ornate. But they admirably serve their purpose, and often come with a shrewd button to finish them off.
What the production may most lack is a more comically vibrant performer in the roles of the doomed D'Ysquith family. Rapson certainly manages to get laughs with the idiosyncrasies of numerous roles, but something is missing to earn it the title of a tour de force performance. While not an insignificant drawback, it isn't enough to hamper the curiously quaint charms of Gentleman's Guide. It may not be A Christmas Carol, but it still twinkles with a happy holiday spirit, at least if you don't consider familicide a Yuletide deal-breaker.
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder will run at the Golden Gate Theatre through Dec. 27. Tickets are $45-$212. Call (888) 746-1799 or go to shnsf.com.