Rabbit: Nani sore… imi wakannai.
Tiger: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you too.
Rabbit: No, really. I don’t get it. What is with this Q Attack’s topic?
Tiger: I thought it would be a fun conversation to have.
Rabbit: It’s the last post of the year and you want to end it with this? There’s no hidden message here, right? You’re not trying to give me a hint about what my Christmas gift is… do I need to start locking my bedroom door at night?
Tiger: Well, you know in the wild I would technically eat you.
Rabbit: ^turns pale^
Tiger: What? It’s true.
Rabbit: Dareka tasukete!!
Tiger: Bunny arrow shoot-o!
Rabbit: ^shocked face^ You really are planning to off me so you can inherit my collection of ramune marbles!
Tiger: Why would I want those?
Rabbit: Then it’s the keychain collection you’re after!
Tiger: Useless.
Rabbit: My mint NakNaks then!
Tiger: You still have those?
Rabbit: I know what it is, you want to kill me for my Pogs.
Tiger: Okay, first off, I don’t want to kill you. Chill out, will ya. Second, you don’t even own anything I want. Technically, we share most of our stuff anyway.
Rabbit: Hey! I have a lot of valuable stuff. I’m kashikoi kawaii Rabichika after all.
Tiger: *shakes head*
Rabbit: So, if you aren’t trying to kill me for my stuff, what are we doing here?
Tiger: Don’t you remember we went to see a Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder this past summer? I thought we could chat about the show, its music, and its awesome premise. Especially with the holidays about us, I’m sure many of us wish we could just off all of our relatives. *laughs*
Rabbit: ^laughs^ Wait, no, I’m sure many of us have not wished that. I worry about you sometimes, Tiger.
Tiger: *shakes head* A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder is the Tony Award’s Best Musical of 2014.
Rabbit: It’s based off of the 1907 novel, Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal which also the source for the 1949 movie, Kind Hearts and Coronets starring Alec Guinness.
Tiger: Gentleman’s story revolves around Monty Navarro, who after his mother’s death, finds out he’s descended from the noble D’Ysquith family. Monty decides to eliminate the eight heirs above him in the line of succession all while juggling an affair with a married woman and wooing his cousin.
Rabbit: Monty definitely has his work cut out for him as he meets the D’Ysquith family, all played by John Rapson of the national touring cast. Kevin Massey plays Monty, who throughout the show always seems to have poison in his pocket and concocts many ill-fated incidents for the D’Ysquiths.
Tiger: But before Monty can target his first D’Ysquith; he proposes to his love, Sibella played by Kristen Beth Williams, but she shuns him. After all, he only has a promise of a noble name and no money to back it up. She, on the other hand, has a rich suitor waiting to marry her. Even though she still loves Monty, Sibella loves money and status even more.
Rabbit: Being spurned by Sibella, Monty finds the resolve to confront Reverend Lord Ezekial D’Ysquith to try and be recognized by the family as a true member and heir.
Tiger: The Reverend refuses to advocate on Monty’s behalf and while the two are standing on top of the belfry, a gust of wind causes the D’Ysquith to lose his balance. Instead of helping him, Monty lets him fall to his death. Thus, begins Monty’s bloody quest to reach the top of the D’Ysquith family.
Rabbit: Eventually, Monty actually becomes quite successful after working for another member of the D’Ysquith family. He even begins dating Phoebe D’Ysquith, whose brother was killed by Monty.
Tiger: It’s probably a good time to point out that Gentleman is a comedy which makes these deaths all the more fun. An ice skating accident, sending someone to Africa only to have them return alive, bees, and poisonous flowers are utilized to their fullest to try and knock off every D’Ysquith Monty comes across.
Rabbit: And the lyrics are very witty and filled with memorable turns of phrase. Paired with a catchy melodic score, the music helps convey the morbid comedy throughout the show.
Tiger: I can’t stress how good this score is. Not only does the music poke fun at other theatrical musical styles but the lyrics really are quite clever. The original cast recording is amazing and the national tour lived up to the expectations I had when we went to see the show live.
Rabbit: The stage effects were also spot on. Simple yet added to the humor of all the deaths that occurred. It’s hard to compare it to some of the other musicals we’ve seen but I definitely say production wise, it had the best theatre vibe. No wonder it looked so great since it won the Tony Award for Best Costume Design, it was really stunning.
Rabbit: I feel like I’m getting set up here. Yes, I think it is wrong to murder people no matter the circumstance. Yeah, Monty was mad that his mother was forced to live in poverty and denied by her family just because she eloped. Does that give him the right to murder eight people, however terrible they all were, just so he could become the Ninth Earl of Highhurst? No, it doesn’t. Granted, it would have been a terrible show if he didn’t kill anyone but still, it definitely doesn’t make it right. It seems to me that no one was really sad that the D’Ysquiths were getting knocked off one by one though so maybe he was doing the world a service.
Tiger: That’s a good point. Of course I’m going to say no to this question. C’mon, everyone has to have fantasized about killing an annoying relative that you just can’t get rid of. Especially around the holidays, man they can get on your nerves. If one of those relatives had a huge fortune that you were going to inherit, well that it would make it all the sweeter. Now, I’m not encouraging people to really start offing their relatives, but we can dream, can’t we? As for Monty, I quite respect the lengths he went to on his journey to become Earl. He really had to get creative with some of the family members and his problem solving skills were very impressive.
Rabbit: Sometimes, I don’t know when you’re joking.
Tiger: It was impressive. Just take a look at the lyrics from the Reprise of Poison in my Pocket.
I am sitting here with poison in my pocketRabbit: I’m not letting you make Christmas dinner.
Look whose head is finally on the block
It seems that now at last the moment I've been waiting for is here
All that's really left to be decided is the dish to put the poison in provided
I can do what must be done discreetly when the coast is clear
I confess it pains me some to ruin someone's cooking - Oh, for god's sake, now another servant's looking
I have had a run of luck but this one does require skill
Fish or fowl, it must be well-selected so that no one else at all will be affected
What an awful waste to do in someone I don't want to kill
Tiger: Oh, c’mon, you can’t be serious.
Rabbit: You aren’t getting close to the gravy ever.
