Ushering in the holiday season at Cape May Stage is Murder for Two: The Holiday Edition, book & music by Joe Kinosian and book & lyrics by Kellen Blair. In this hilarious musical murder mystery, everyone is a suspect, but there’s a twist: one actor investigates the crime, the other plays all the suspects, and they both play the piano!
Directing the musical mystery is Hans Friedrich. Born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he is now a proud New Yorker. Hans has directed productions in the United States, Canada, and Norway. His NYC credits include the revival of The Drowsy Chaperone for The Gallery Players, winner of The New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical, A Man Of No Importance and the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus at Carnegie Hall.
Hans says, “The Holidays can be murder, and Murder for Two: The Holiday Edition is the perfect gift for both the nice and naughty on your Holiday list. A fast-paced silly, sly, irreverent and ultimately hilarious send-up of murder mysteries as played out by two actors playing thirteen roles and the piano!”
Playing Officer Marcus Moscowicz, a small-town policeman with dreams of making it to detective is Trace Pool. Trace grew up in Gun Barrel City, Texas and graduated with a BFA in Musical Theatre from Sam Houston State University and trained at The Performing Arts Project. After graduation, Trace moved to Houston, TX where he worked as a full-time actor for two and half years with the Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre, Stages Repertory Theatre, Texas Repertory Theatre, and more. During this time, Trace also had the opportunity to play piano for the Wicked Munchkinland National Tour’s Cabaret Witches Night Off, which benefited Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS.
Making his Cape May Stage debut is Martin Landry. Martin will be playing all The Suspects in this whodunit murder mystery. Martin is no stranger to Murder for Two. He joined the national tour of Murder for Two in early 2015 and has appeared as (and/or been standby for) both “The Suspects” and/or “Marcus” at eleven different theatres in ten different states. His NYC credits include Til Divorce Do Us Part and “George Bailey” in It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. As a writer, his full-length musical Esther (co-written with his wife, Janice Landry) has been performed over 70 times around the world.
Roy Steinberg, artistic director of Cape May Stage says, “The holiday edition follows the basic story of the highly acclaimed original Off-Broadway production but is redressed in a holiday theme. This production will melt the heart of any Grinch and put a smile on any Scrooge.”
This family-friendly musical and madcap comedy-mystery, loaded with killer laughs runs November 6 through December 29, Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. Murder for Two: The Holiday Edition previews November 6 and officially opens on November 7 with a pre-party inside the theatre starting at 6:30 p.m., with an after-party at Fins Bar & Grille following the performance.
To help keep families in the holiday spirit, all Saturday matinees are only $25 each plus as an added bonus all kids 16 and under are free with each adult matinee ticket. For more details, call the box office at 609-770-8311 or visit capemaystage.org.