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A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Dramaturgy Website
A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Dramaturgy Website
Love and Murder
It's a Gentleman's Guide, look no further for the process, creation,
inspiration, and general information about the musical
General Summary from Your Dramaturg
Its a murder story after all; or is it just a love story?
This musical follows the journey of Monty Navarro as he writes the guide to love and murder in his jail cell awaiting what will happen to him. Over the course of the musical, we see the love of characters that flourish at all different types of locations that follow in death, some more serious than others. This leads Monty into complex convictions of what he begins the play doing, narrating the lengthy plot guiding us along the way to what he has committed.
Was Monty successful in all of his murders in very suspicious "accidents?"
And in the end, was it really worth becoming the Earl of Highhurst?
Israel Rank - The Inspiration
Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Horniman (1907) was the main source that A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder was drawn many inspirations to create the musical.
This novel shares many concepts that Gentleman's Guide includes with similarities including characters, realization of the family tree, murdering, and romance. Along with many similar themes, this 400+ page novel shares the dark humor and morality of the main character having to commits "accidental murders" while, at the same time, also being charming
Israel Rank follows the story of Israel who is a son of a traveler and aristocrat. He finds after his father and mother both die, he studies the earldom to inherit the title that once his mother held before she was disinherited. For all of the wrong that Israel sees that happened to his mother before she passed away, he seeks out a revenge sort of way to gain access to the title of earldom. Just as Monty goes about the "accidental murders," Israel goes to arrange accidental murders that appear to be innocent, unnatural, or just out of the blue unlucky coincident. After committing murder to 6 different heirs before him, he is then writing from his prison cell in a memoir sort to see if there is any guilt that can be directed towards what his past has said to prove that he was behind all along.
Kind Hearts and Coronets - 1949
Kind Hears and Coronets is a 1949 British film directed by Robert Hamer featuring Dennis Price, Joan Greenwood, and Alec Guinness.
The title of the movie Kind Hearts and Coronets, is based off a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson. From a select poem from his collection Poems (1842), "Lady Clara Vere de Vere," is about a woman who is from a family of nobility that attempts to marry outside of her class status who is later found dead based on the rejections that she is served.
The plot of this movie follows alongside the same story line of Isreal Rank. This movie follows the son of a woman who is disowned by her aristocratic family as she takes to marry outside of her social class. Following this, her son, Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini, is then tasked to0 take on the roll of murdering with the line of succession of the eight people that are ahead of him to take on the title of Duke. Through love, murder, marriage, and writing a memoir, the film follows how Louis handles all of the hardships that follow his actions in his mind, helping his dead mother to be apart of the royal family once again.
Production Hisotry
Oct 2012
Premiered at Hartford Stage (Old Globe Theatre) in Hartford, CN
Mar 2013
Opened at Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, CA
Nov 2013
Opened on Broadway at Walter Kerr Theatre New York, NY
Sept 2015
First National Tour at Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady, NY
Sept 2017
Second National Tour at Overture Center in Madison, WI
Oct 2018
Opened in Australia at Arts Center Melbourne, Australia
From Freedman Himself
Notes on the Writing of A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder - Robert L .Freedman
This musical wasn't just a show that was brought into existence, it had many influences that are listed below that compiled seriousness into existence of the wit of committing murder. Looking into this novel that walks through the process of what it took to write the musical, Robert L. Freedman goes in depth to create the retelling of the making of A Gentleman's Guide. Below, a simplistic list of main highlights and quotes from the book.
"From the start, we (Steve Lutvak) knew there were going to be eight murders. We knew we wanted each victim to die a different, comical death. Ideally, the audience would look forward to each coming death, and we had to ratchet up the circumstances for maximum enjoyment."
""Write what you know."...I have never murdered anyone, and what I know about Edwardian society I learned from books and movies. But I do know what it's like to be human."
"The first rule of thumb with any adaptation should be to ask yourself how your can make it your own, not how you can dutifully-create the source material on which your adaptation is based."
"Born to a life of "genteel poverty," Monty Navarro learns upon his mothers death that he is a member of the aristocratic D'Ysquith family...we follow Monty's journey to reclaim his birthrights by murdering..."
"A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder presented a different challenge altogether. This is culture where people often do speak in complete sentences. Many of the character are erudite and sophisticated, not to mention clever and witty,"
"At the beginning, when we started writing the show, nobody else cared whether we wrote it or it ever got produced. It was out belief in the show and in ourselves that kept us going all those years. To me, the show's success is proof that dreams do some true. "
On Broadway - Behind the Scenes
Want to see what the original production looked like, or wanting the full musical in only 4 minutes? You've come to the right section.
For more videos and behind the scenes looks at the production, click on the button below taking you straight to the Gentleman's Guide on Broadway YouTube channel.
POV Stage Manager
GGLAM in 4 Minutes
Props
Promo for National Tour
Past Production Photos
Reviews
"This delightful show will first the hearts of all those who've been pining for what sometimes seems a lost art form"
New York Times
"The undisputed king of musical comedy"
Time Out New York
"Restores our faith in musical comedy"
The Hollywood Reporter
"If you're tired of apologizing to out-of-town visitors for the shaky state of 21st-century American musical comedy, send them to 'A Gentleman's Guide' and rest assured they'll go home happy"
The Wall Street Journal
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