Murder For Two

Murder For Two puts a great American novelist face down at his own surprise birthday party and hands the case to an officer who is not yet a detective. Everyone in the house had a reason to want him gone. The nearest actual detective is an hour away, so the officer starts taking statements on his own, hoping to have it solved before anyone senior arrives.

Two performers carry the whole thing. One plays the investigating officer. The other plays every suspect in the house, switching between them mid-sentence: the widow, the ballerina, a psychiatrist with a professional interest in the deceased, a niece, a fire chief, and three boys from a local choir. Both actors play the piano throughout, sometimes together, sometimes while arguing in character.

Joe Kinosian wrote the music and Kellen Blair the lyrics, with a book by both, and the show came up through regional theatres before a commercial run in 2013. It sits in a small tradition of musical comedies built for a cast that is obviously too small for the story, and it makes the shortage the joke.

The comedy is technical. Costume changes are minimal or nonexistent, so a character is established by posture and voice and dropped a beat later. The score runs to vaudeville pastiche, patter and duets sung by one actor playing both halves, and the piano is scenery, weapon and orchestra by turns.

Underneath the gags it keeps the shape of a proper whodunnit. The clues are planted fairly, the suspects all have motive, and the solution holds up if the audience is paying attention through the noise.