From left, Marjorie Baverstock (Codie Wyatt), Ken De La Maize (Scott Randall), Roger Hopewell (Bruce Erickson) and Bernice Roth (Tina Worthey) collaborate on a song for their new musical in Red Curtain’s production of “Musical Comedy Murders of 1940,” running Sept. 9-25 in Marysville. (Kenny Randall)
Red Curtain Foundation for the Arts opens the 2022-2023 community theater season Friday with “Musical Comedy Murders of 1940.”
In this farcical murder mystery, Elsa Von Grossenkneuten, an eccentric theater financier, has gathered a team at her mansion in Chappaqua, New York. Everyone believes that they will have a backer’s audition for Elsa in order to get financing for the newest musical by Roger Hopewell and Bernice Roth, directed by Ken De La Maize, and produced by Marjorie Baverstock.
However, the shadow of the team’s last show hangs over the group. Deemed a flop, “Manhattan Holiday” was ravaged by the Stage Door Slasher, a mysterious killer who stabs chorus girls. The undercover police officer Michael Kelly is hoping to flush out the killer from this group of suspects — but the killer has other plans. In addition, the threat of Nazi saboteurs lurks among them. Blizzard conditions, secret passageways and some musical snippets create an Agatha-Christie-meets-Clue formula of whodunnit parody.
Performances are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through Sept. 25 at the Red Curtain Arts Center, 9315 State Ave., #J, in Marysville. Tickets are $22 for adults, $18 for seniors (62 and older), students and military personnel. Tickets are available online at redcurtainfoundation.org; at the theater box office by phone (360-322-7402), or in-person at the arts center from 2-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.
Helsa Wenzel (Melissa Dowell) is a maid with a secret — and a deadly weapon, in Red Curtain’s production of “Musical Comedy Murders of 1940,” running Sept. 9-25 in Marysville. (Kenny Randall)
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