Curtains, the Musical Murder Mystery

Set in 1950’s Boston, Curtains follows the story of a pre-broadway musical whose cast and crew suffer the trials and tribulations of not only the murder of their leading lady on opening night, but the subsequent twists and turns of the resulting investigation.  Set against the backdrop of ‘Robbin Hood’ a musical western, this play within a play (or more accurately, a musical within a musical) is as much about the saving of the show as much it is about the murder mystery.  As the detective leading the investigation puts the whole theatre on lock down, relationships fray, pressure rises and fingers are pointed.  There are plots and subplots galore, some very clever and funny musical numbers and no shortage of jokes.

From the opening bars you can hear the refrains of Kander & Ebb classics such as Chicago and Cabaret but this is much more than simply another of the same.  Director Paul Foster has made sure this lesser known show stands on its own; it has a familiarity which immediately makes it accessible yet has enough in reserve to maintain intrigue and a freshness to encourage repeat viewings.

Jason Manford (known recently for Scarborough on TV and The Producers and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage) plays the lead character of Detective Frank Coiffi, a wannabee thespian and amateur musical theatre star who has as much input into resurrecting the stricken show as he does in solving the crime.  Manford holds his character perfectly, part Columbo, part Poirot with a pretty decent Boston accent to boot.  He revels in the musical elements, giving us a chance to hear a great voice and some pretty nifty dance moves and, as one would expect his comic timing is impeccable.

Playing opposite Coiffi, in the role of Georgia Hendricks, the show’s lyricist who is thrust into the limelight following the untimely death of the original lead, is Carley Stenson.  No stranger to musical and comedy theatre, Carley lights up the stage regardless of whether it’s her scene or not – she has a wonderful, powerful voice and, as seen in the finale to act 1 number ‘Thataway’ is a very adept dancer to boot.  Her duets with Andy Coxon as Aaron Fox, her on stage writing partner,  are simply magical.

Two other standout performances are Rebecca Lock as show producer Carmen Bernstein and Samuel Holmes as show director Christopher Belling.  Rebecca plays Carmen with strength, style and plenty of sass, very reminiscent of the Mama Morton part in Chicago but with the Boston dirt under her fingernails.  

Samuel Holmes however, is totally English and because of that he can get away with pretty much anything.  His Belling is acerbic, driven, suffers no fools and knows that, despite anything on the bill, HE is the real star of the show.  Totally captivating and utterly charming.

Packed full of musical numbers this is a wonderful opportunity for the people of Darlington to see the early stages of what is destined to be a smash hit.  Curtains has already announced it will soon transfer to the West End at the Wyndham Theatre so there’s no better time to grab a ticket and enjoy some brilliant 5 star comedy musical murder mystery.

CURTAINS THE MUSICAL

In a church hall nestled alongside high rise flats and just behind the bustling high street, the cast and crew of soon to be smash hit musical Curtains are going through their last few weeks of rehearsals.  With household names such as Jason Manford, Carley Stenson and Ore Oduba on the bill and directed by Paul Taylor this is the accumulation of 18 months of preparation for a show that blends murder mystery, comedy, great songs and a harking back to the glitz and glamour of the 1950’s.

Written by the creators of arguably two of last century’s greatest musicals (Cabaret and Chicago) Curtains is something rarely found in this modern age of instant knowledge and even quicker criticism; a show that is so fresh and new and exciting that (for now at least) not many people are aware of it.  It had a small run on Broadway in the mid 2000’s, has been played by amateur and high school groups in the US and popped up a few times in other countries, but this new tour will prove to be its UK debut across the country and is destined to become the ‘must see’ production of the past (and next) 5 years.  Darlington Hippodrome will be the first theatre in the North East to present Curtains and a wonderful opportunity for the area.

The premise is quite a simple one – the theatre production of Robbin’ Hood, a Wild West tale, is in turmoil on its opening night as their leading lady is murdered, but as local detective Frank Cioffe begins to investigate it becomes clear that there are more than one or two who might benefit from her demise.  A classic play within a play ensues with twists and turns aplenty.

We met up with the leads and director as they took a break from rehearsals and asked them a few questions about playing in Curtains.

Jason Manford who plays detective Frank Cioffe. Jason is as warm and funny off stage as he is on it, instantly relatable and an all-round great guy.

Jason, you’re enjoying quite a renaissance on TV and radio at the moment with Scarborough, QI, 8 out of 10 cats, Absolute Radio and even some reruns of your Plus Net ads, are some people surprised that you are also a stage actor and even more so that you can sing ?

JM I come from a large family, my grandparents had 12 children and, in the times before TV they needed to be able to keep them entertained, so my grandmother always made sure they sang together and this has continued through my parents and down to me.  Singing is a great community activity, and even though I would have never classed myself as a singer as such, I really enjoy it.  Starting off in stand up, I learned very quickly that regardless of what stage you’re on, it’s all acting so I guess I’ve always been able to perform.

I saw you singing with Alfie Boe in Preston, especially Stars from Les Miserable which is a very powerful song, and you have had lead roles in The Producers and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang .  Is the singing element of Frank Cioffe something that particularly appealed to you about the role?

JM Actually, the appeal was everything I know and love about theatre is here in Curtains – great songs, a brilliant script that is witty and funny, the plot twists of a murder mystery and a chance to be a part of a show created by Ebb and Kander.  I love Cabaret and Chicago so this is a bit like finding an album by your favourite group that you didn’t know existed.  Added to that the wonderful cast and a brilliant director in Paul (Foster) and it was too good an opportunity to miss.

Tell us a bit about your character, Frank Cioffe

JM Frank is a detective, a very good detective, but his real passion is theatre.  He is a member of his local Am Dram company and lives all year for their summer production so when he gets the chance to investigate a murder at a ‘professional’ production, surrounded by ‘real’ actors he is in his element.  He thrives on the energy of being around the show which gives him even more determination to not only find the killer but to help ensure the show goes on.  There is a little bit of a love interest, and some outright crazy characters he has to deal with but he manages to stay focussed.  I guess he’s a bit Columbo, a bit Poirot and a lot (Leo) Bloom (from The Producers, a role which Jason played in 2015), in fact there is a great similarity between Frank and Leo – they are both in quite mundane day jobs hankering for the bright lights and razzmatazz of the stage.

As many people will not have heard of Curtains, how would you sell it ?

JM Curtains has all the elements of the great comedy musicals, song and dance routines to rival the classics and the intrigue of a murder mystery – what’s not to love?

Carley Stenson plays Georgia Hendricks one half of the songwriting team behind the show within a show Robbin’ Hood. The room lit up when Carley came in, she is the absolute definition of ‘a smile’ with an infectious and completely disarming personality

Carley, you have a wonderful pedigree for musical theatre having starred in Les Miserables, Legally Blonde, Shrek, Spamalot – how does Curtains rate with these shows?

CS It’s not often you get a chance to perform in a ‘new show’, one that has not had the exposure or perhaps hype as others so it’s both exciting and nerve racking – we are almost responsible for whether Curtains makes it in the UK but with that being said, a show by Kander and Ebb is pretty much a seal of quality.  Curtains is a delight, funny, clever and some great songs

It’s been 10 years since you left Hollyoaks so in effect you’ve been doing theatre just as long as you did TV – do you feel that theatre is your true calling now?

CS I loved Hollyoaks, the storylines were great, intense and it meant I personally benefited from being associated with such a successful show, but I have always loved theatre.  Me and my friends used to put on our own shows, creating costumes, sets and performing so now I have been able to do it as a job has been wonderful.  I have been very fortunate to plays some iconic modern roles in musical theatre.

Curtains is a musical murder mystery but from watching the rehearsals, there also seems to be a lot of humour too, is it safe to say that it is more a comedy than anything else?

(Carley’s eyes positively twinkle and her smile grows even brighter) 

CS Yes, there’s a lot of comedy in Curtains, helped in no small part by the brilliant cast we have and the way we have all embraced bringing this ‘new’ show to the UK .  We have had so much fun preparing for this show that you can’t help transfer that to the stage and hopefully that will give the audience a feel good factor when they watch it.  There are times where I have to avoid eye contact with one or two of the cast or I know I will risk laughing myself, Jason (Manford) is simply brilliant in his comedic timing and Sam (Holmes who plays the show’s Director Christopher Belling) is so quick with his acerbic wit that he has me in stitches.

As we have mentioned to others, Curtains is relatively unknown at present.  How would you sell it to an audience whose time (and money) is being chased by other shows, cinema, TV etc.

CS Curtains is a hark back to the grand productions of 1950s MGM – a time when things were done on a massive scale of glamour and glitz.  We have some great big musical numbers, brilliantly written and great fun to perform. It is unapologetic in giving the audience a chance to escape the day to day problems and worries, not only is it funny it is very clever and will keep everyone guessing right up the last.

Director Paul Foster, Betty’s tea shop aficionado and lover of old books.

Paul, you have directed some of traditional theatres great shows; Kiss Me Kate, Annie Get Your Gun, Tell Me On A Sunday, Singin’ in the Rain to name but a few, how does Curtains rate?

PF Any Kander and Ebb show already comes with a level of brilliance built in so part of my challenge is not to ruin it, but Curtains, as a relatively unknown show to the general public, carries a little more risk.  That being said, I feel that the art of putting on a great show is to tell a story, once the cast are on board and the stage is set, it is the story that becomes the show so in that respect I think Curtains will be a huge hit.  It might take a little time for people to realise, as with anything new you need advocates and fans to help spread the word, but with our cast I am confident that people are going to love it.

You mention the cast and names such as Jason (Manford), Carley (Stenson) and Ore (Oduba) will undoubtedly bring a degree of interest, how have they and the rest of the cast taken to the roles.

PF I believe that the art of being a good director is not to set limits on people but to help them understand what you need and let them grow the part.  If you place a plant under glass it might grow quickly but it will stop when it reaches the glass so I try not to have any upper limits. The roles are well enough defined to carry the story but there is so much scope for them to develop that everyday I am seeing more and more.

And with that, Paul and the gang headed back to rehearsals, perfectly delivering the theatrical coup de grace and leaving us wanting more.

From our brief watch of rehearsals, it is clear that Curtains is going to be huge and will give audiences the chance to be there at the start – think Rocky Horror Show, Little Shop of Horrors, Grease, The Full Monty, even Hamilton, shows for which the boast of “I saw it first” have become bragging rites for theatre goers the world over.  

This is a huge coup for Darlington to be the first theatre in the North East to present Curtains and wonderful recognition of the appeal the Hippodrome has for touring productions.  

It’s sure to sell out soon, grab your tickets now.

Curtains comes to Darlington Hippodrome from November 12^th – tickets https://www.darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk/whats-on/curtains/

For more details and some exclusive cast videos check out Curtains website - https://curtainsmusical.com/

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels @ Sunderland Empire

Take two con men, one suave, sophisticated, charming; the other brash, uncouth, common; throw them together in the south of France and let them try and con the same mark, who unbeknownst to them has her own secrets and you’ve got the essence of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the smash hit musical from Jeffrey Lane and David Yazbek.

Based on the 80’s movie starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine, DRS is packed full of double cross,  con and counter con and more twists than a twisty, turny thing.  What sets this musical apart from many other attempts at bringing 80’s movies to the stage is that it is simply brilliant.  The cast is perfect, the songs are as witty as Noel Coward yet as risky and risqué as Mel Brooks and the choreography is total French Riviera; beautiful girls, beautiful boys, beautiful costumes.

The story opens with Lawrence Jameson, the debonair Englishman wooing his way through most of the available wealthy ladies staying in Beaumont Sur Mer, the fashionable and luxury resort in the South of France.  Michael Praed, reprising the Michael Caine role, is elegant yet deliciously naughty, and glides through the whole show with total charm and sophistication.  Praed has surely found his calling in this role, he is totally believable yet plays it all with a telling glint in his eye and a mischievous lilt in his voice.  He reminds me of Malcolm McDowell who, in his more recent guises has found elegant Britishness couples perfectly with an undercurrent of danger and desire.

Ably supporting Jameson is the local chief of police, Andre Thibault a role that is smashed out of the park by Mark Benton.  Whilst the chief is, to many, a 4^th part of the ménage a tois, he provides the glue through the whole story to keep the action centred and yet, in attempting to help Jameson avoid one his more amorous conquests, he manages to hook himself his own special lady.  Benton is one of my all time favourite actors, I loved him in the Booze Cruise trilogy (Matey Boy) as well as his longstanding partnership with Robson Green in the ‘Lights’ series.  Having watched him on Strictly I was even more keen to see him strut his stuff live on stage and boy he didn’t disappoint.  Coupling comic timing with genuine rhythm Mark lights up every scene he is in, even if he’s stood side stage.  His accent is brilliant, Poirot meets Pepe le Peu with ‘joost a leel beet’ of Officer Crabtree.

Following an evening spent pretending to be a usurped Prince, Jameson takes a train ride, on which he believes he has found the infamous Jackal, a known American con man.  Played by Noel Sullivan, Freddy Benson is presented as a brash, loud mouthed ’Noo Yorka’, out to try and fleece a buck or two from any unsuspecting schmuck by playing the short con and relying purely on half-hearted sentiment.   Jameson recognises immediately that he poses no real ‘professional’ threat to his carefully crafted money train, but also can see that Benson would happily blow his cover for a dollar, and so agrees to coach the young pretender in exchange for his silence.  Sullivan has it down to a tee; he combines the youthful folly and over excitedness of a 1^st time traveller with the street smarts of a Brooklyn kid – it was always going to be difficult for anyone to recreate the Steve Martin approach, but Sullivan uses what he has to his advantage; he’s younger and thus more believable as an upstart kid rather than an accomplished conman.

As the story progresses, both con men decide that there is not enough room for two and so agree on a challenge; one mark, one goal, winner stays, loser leaves and nothing is off limits.  So begins one of the best double, triple, quadruple plot twists ever written.  The wonderful Carley Stenson becomes the mark, Christine Colgate, the newly crowned Soap Queen who is in France to celebrate and enjoy her considerable wealth.  Of course, having someone as beautiful as Stenson means love (and lust) can’t be far away but it is the way our two protagonists try to both con and woo her whilst trying to derail the other’s plans that makes for truly hilarious, sometimes slapstick comedy.

The songs are fresh and funny and show a new approach to musical theatre; gone are the traditional verse, chorus, verse constructs; each is very catchy, hooks galore with clever wordplay – there’s a chance for Benton to show he can croon, for Praed to make all the women swoon and for Sullivan to make everyone else groon (groan but that didn’t rhyme).  For me however, the best song is Oklahoma? with Phoebe Coupe as Jolene, a good ole mid western girl, painting Jameson the picture of wedded bliss on the prairie.

If you’ve seen the movie then you will have a good idea about most of the twists and turns but seeing it live on stage, full of brilliant musical numbers and expertly cast, it surely has a place already with the greats of comedy musicals – The Producers, Book of Mormon, Singing in the Rain, Little Shop of Horrors, Full Monty, Legally Blonde, Sister Act – you’ve got a new stable mate.