“Love AND murder?  What could go wrong?” my wife asked as we pulled up to the Little Theatre of Virginia Beach on Friday, November 17 to see the opening night of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.  Our hopes only heightened as we flipped through the program and discovered that this was going to be a musical (we often enjoy going to community theater totally blind as to the contents of the performance other than the name).  And, as it turns out, that question – “what could go wrong?” – was never answered, as this was one of the best performances of a musical we have seen in community theater.

The play begins with the ensemble giving a warning to the audience of the murders to come, and right away, we found ourselves impressed with the quality of the singing coming off the stage.  Ensembles in community theater can be hit or miss, but director Karen Buchheim was able to recruit a really impressive group here, and music director Nancy Whitfield and sound designer Sherry Forbes did a fantastic job making the sound fill the room.  In the next scene, we see Monty Navarro (played by Kobie Smith) learning of his aristocratic bloodline from the mysterious Miss Shingle, a role Regina Rossi filled with the perfect balance of authority and quirkiness, and the audience (and Monty) isn’t totally sure if she is trustworthy.  Nevertheless, Monty comes to the conclusion he is in fact ninth in line for an Earldom, and through some mental gymnastics decides the right thing to do is to attempt to kill all eight individuals above him in line (hence, the murder portion of the title).

So what about the love side of things?  Well, as it turns out, Monty is in love with Sibella, played by Jessi DiPette, who has just recently gotten engaged, but seems to have no qualms about continuing her affair with Monty despite her betrothed.  Sibella, by the way, as well as the rest of the cast, is clad in beautiful period attire with great wigs and even better hats – a shout out to the whole costume/hat/wig/makeup crew is well deserved. 

While Kobie Smith was putting on an amazing performance as Monty (he could sing, he could act, and he is on stage almost every moment of this play, somehow getting the audience on his side as he plots murder after murder), Jessi DiPette was fully ready and capable of matching that performance.  Her acting was great, her singing was even better, and she absolutely sold her role as the “pretty in pink” commoner who marries for money.  Smith and DiPette’s chemistry popped right off the stage.

And oh by the way, all of those eight people above Monty on the family tree, men and women, are played by one – that’s right, one – person – the remarkable Robert C. Shirley!  All were performed with distinct enough looks (again, credit the costuming team) and personalities that we didn’t even realize he was playing them all until we were looking through the program in more detail on the car ride home.  He did a fantastic job, and definitely acted his butt off.  He was hilarious from start to finish.

And as if that wasn’t enough, towards the end of the first act, we are introduced to Heather Eddy as Phoebe D’Ysquith.  When she showed up, we couldn’t believe this play had yet another extraordinary singer and actor in it.  She blew us away with her impressive falsetto as she creates a love triangle with Monty and Sibella.  And… Kobie Smith has perfect chemistry with Eddy as well!  You become immersed in this ever-growing plot of intrigue, and things come to a head when the trio of Monty, Phoebe and Sibella sing “I’ve Decided to Marry You” in the second act – don’t miss this song!  It is one of the rare times when the audience was so massively impressed by the performance that it was eager and ready to clap and cheer before the last note ended, as my wife and I locked eyes and mouthed the word “wow” to each other.

It is rare that you get the opportunity to see a community theater production with so much talent on one stage, and meshing in such perfect fashion.  We were blown away by the entire performance – this is one community theater production that should not be missed!