December, 1940. Elsa Von Grossenknueten, an eccentric theatre 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 stabbed 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. More than that, the threat of Nazi saboteurs lurks among them. Throw in blizzard conditions, secret passageways, and some musical snippets to create an Agatha-Christie-meets-Clue formula of whodunnit parody. Popular for high schools, universities, and community theatres, The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 is full of delightful slapstick for audience of all ages.
The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 guide sections