In his program notes for “The Savoyard Murders,” San Diego playwright Omri Schein describes his latest play as a “silly murder mystery.”
That is an apt description of the world premiere show that The Roustabouts Theatre Co. opened Fridayat the Legler-Benbough Theatre in Scripps Ranch. But for fans of Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic operettas and the larger-than-life theatrical characters found in the farces of Noël Coward, Ken Ludwig and even the Marx Brothers, there are deeper layers to explore and enjoy.
For those who don’t know (including me, before I Googled it), a Savoyard is an enthusiast of Gilbert & Sullivan’s shows like “The Mikado” and “Princess Ida,” which were produced at London’s Savoy Theatre in the late 1800s.
The Savoyard in this play is Tiberius Spriggs, a foppish 1920s-era theater critic who invites five unsuspecting theater folks and fans to his London flat for a murder-mystery parlor game. Performed with winking conspiratorial exuberance by Phil Johnson, Spriggs explains that a real murderer is on the loose and the mode of his (or her) victims’ deaths may have been inspired by the plots of several G&S comedies. To say more about the plot would spoil its many surprises.
Phil Johnson and David McBean in Omri Schein’s “The Savoyard Murders.”
(Courtesy of Ken Jacques)
Spriggs’ guests are haughty society widow Desdemona (Wendy Waddell); vain stage diva Rowena Rawlings (Taylor Henderson); flamboyant stage director Balthazar Bellwood (Daren Scott); out-of-work baritone Cyrus Schock (Durwood Murray); and hatmaker/theater fan Ezra Dribble (Eliott Goretsky). The versatile David McBean completes the cast playing Spriggs’ butler Grizzle and multiple murder victims.
Co-directors Schein and Johnson give the show a consistency of tone and style and all of the cast are very good in their roles. Yi-Chien Lee’s scenic design, decorated with posters of G&S shows, helps advance the plot and Jennifer Brawn Gittings’ lavish and colorful costumes spootlight the characters’ eccentricities. Michelle Miles designed lighting, Paul Durso designed sound and Daniel M. Lincoln composed original music.
While “The Savoyard Murders” is very clever, funny and stocked with colorful characters, it could use some nips and tucks.
The script’s first-act pacing feels slow, particularly because it takes nearly an hour before it’s finally made clear why the characters have assembled at Spriggs’ flat. And in the second act, the twists in the plot become convoluted and its denouement doesn’t entirely make sense to me.
The more you know about G&S and backstage farce, the more you’ll pick up in this show, but even for novices of those genres, “The Savoyard Murders” is — as promised — a silly murder mystery with a lot of laughs and hilarious performances.
‘The Savoyard Murders’
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Through Sept. 30
Where: Legler-Benbough Theatre, Alliant International University campus, S783 Avenue of Nations, San Diego
Tickets: $45
Phone: (619) 568-5800
Online: theroustabouts.org