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Death by Design: A Comedy with Songs and Murder

  • Rob Urbinati
  • Full Length Play, Comedy, Mystery/Thriller, 1930s
  • 4M, 4F
  • ISBN: 9780573704321

What happens when you mix the brilliant wit of Noel Coward with the intricate plotting of Agatha Christie?

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Comedy, Mystery/Thriller
  • 120 minutes

  • Time Period: 1930s
  • Target Audience: Senior, Adult, Appropriate for all audiences
  • Cautions: Gun Shots

  • Performance Group:
  • Dinner Theatre, Community Theatre, Professional Theatre, Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups, College Theatre / Student
What happens when you mix the brilliant wit of Noel Coward with the intricate plotting of Agatha Christie? Set during a weekend in an English country manor in 1932, Death by Design is a delightful and mysterious “mash-up” of two of the greatest English writers of all time.

Edward Bennett, a playwright, and his wife Sorel Bennett, an actress, flee London and head to Cookham after a disastrous opening night. But various guests arrive unexpectedly – a conservative politician, a fiery socialist, a nearsighted ingenue, a zany modern dancer – each with a long-held secret. When one of the guests is murdered, it’s left to Bridgit, the feisty Irish maid with a macabre interest in homicide, to solve the crime.

This musical version of Rob Urbinati's Death by Design is more than homage – it’s a new classic, with a terrific musical theatre score that kills!
REVIEWS:

"Rob Urbinati’s idea of melding Noel Coward and Agatha Christie into something new, something more, is so brilliant it’s amazing nobody thought of it before DEATH BY DESIGN: A COMEDY WITH SONGS AND MURDER. Snappy, urbane dialogue, delightful archetypes and a dash of slapstick blend into some kind of stylized, comedic wonder. Two clever tunes by Peter Mills add that perfect Coward touch to a highly entertaining evening."

 Omaha World Herald

"Playwright Rob Urbinati must have had as much fun writing this comedy as the audience has in savoring it."

 Houston Press

Characters

  • Casting: 4M, 4F
  • Casting Attributes: Non-Traditional casting

  • BRIDGIT - the maid; Irish, crabby, warm-hearted, fifties
    JACK - the chauffer; Cockney, charming, clever, twenties
    EDWARD BENNETT - the playwright; urbane, vain, thirties/forties
    SOREL BENNETT - the actress; glamorous, daffy, thirties/forties
    WALTER PEARCE - the politician; stiff, conservative, thirties/forties
    ERIC - the radical; emphatic, fiery, twenties
    VICTORIA VAN ROTH - the Bohemian; intense, artistic, any age
    ALICE - the visitor; sweet, shy, twenties

    • Available Material

    Name Price
    Perusal Material Shipped immediately. This is optional. Order Now

    1 x Libretto
    1 x Piano/Vocal Score

    		$24.00
    Libretto This is optional. Order Now

    What happens when you mix the brilliant wit of Noel Coward with the intricate plotting of Agatha Christie? Set during a weekend in an English country manor in 1932, Death by Design is a delightful and mysterious “mash-up” of two of the greatest English writers of all time.

    Edward Bennett, a playwright, and his wife Sorel Bennett, an actress, flee London and head to Cookham after a disastrous opening night. But various guests arrive unexpectedly – a conservative politician, a fiery socialist, a nearsighted ingenue, a zany modern dancer – each with a long-held secret. When one of the guests is murdered, it’s left to Bridgit, the feisty Irish maid with a macabre interest in homicide, to solve the crime.

    This musical version of Rob Urbinati's Death by Design is more than homage – it’s a new classic, with a terrific musical theatre score that kills!

    		$24.95

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