blinky
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Re:The Butler Did It Singing - 2008/05/02 13:32
I apologize in advance for the length of this. But it's all I know about the show, having seen it very recently.
My friend was in this show. I have to say, I didn't care for it at all and sort of wish I had those two hours of my life back. I think the key to making this show funny is to really throw oneself into the stereotypical murder mystery hero/heroines this show has as characters, and other than my friend (who played Louie Fan) and the guy who played Chandler, no one in this company did that. Plus I didn't really like any of the music/songs. The theater that did it was very new, however, and a lot of the people in the show, it was their first time performing ever, so I think that had a lot to do with why I didn't like it. ANYWAY, the characters:
Miss Maple: society lady that has invited mystery writers to come as their crime-solving hero/heroines to play who dunnit on an isolated island. She's the Agatha Christie "Miss Marple" type, refined and generally pleased with herself that she has come up with such a fantastic game.
Haversham: The young maid, who is not so good at being a maid that Miss Maple has hired with a sketchy past. Should be a young, pretty female.
Rita: Miss Maple's social secretary, dark, brooding, disapproving of Haversham, and very protective of her hatbox, which she carries with her all the time, and no one is allowed to look inside.
Chandler Marlowe: rough and tumble detective of the Peter Falk as Columbo/Sam Spade/ film noir type. Seems to be the smartest of the lot. Has the best character if you can do the film noir type detective.
Father White: A priest who uses his spare time to solve crime. Part of the shtick is that since it is the author dressed up as his priest character, he is kind of a womanizer and flirts with the female characters. This is supposed to be funny. Although the guy who played him couldn't sing that well, I think he has the best song.
Louie Fan: The joke of this is that Louie Fan is written by a non-Asian author, who has to dress up and act like his character, who is a Charlie Chan, bumbling detective type. None of the other characters can remember his name, which prompts him to sing a song about it. In the case of my friend, she is a woman, so they kind of fudged with it a bit so that she was a female author playing a Chinese man, but I think normally this part is played by a non-Asian male.
Laura and Peter Carlyle: well-dressed rich socialites who are married and use their spare time to solve crime. Peter is only in the beginning and end of the show, while Laura is there throughout. I think they are supposed to be Hart to Hart types, or like that married Agatha Christie couple whose names escape me. They sing a cute song together.
Peter Flimsey: Refined Englishman who solves crimes, I think he's supposed to be a satire of Sherlock Holmes.
Charity Haze: Daredevil, fly-by-night sexy crimefighter who knows how to make an entrance and charm information out of people, especially male people. Was once involved with Chandler Marlowe (I think). Should be older than Haversham, but still kind of a looker and believable that she could actually use her feminine wiles to get her way.
Household staff: There are about 3 or 4 male or female people that function as the chorus of the show (gardener, cook, stablehand, footman). They have some solo spoken and sung lines.
Radio voice: has a couple of lines as he helps Miss Maple forward the mystery along, while revealing secrets about the characters.
There you go, hope that sort of helps, sorry it's so long!
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