'Curtains'

The first theatrical performance for this trip to Broadway was 'Curtains', the musical starring David Hyde Pierce of 'Frazier' fame. It's a theatrical whodunit set in a Boston theatre in 1959 where one by one the people get knocked off in diabolical ways. There's also a traditional 'let's put on a show' storyline with the lyricist becoming the star. And, of course, there's love, laughter and music.

Walking to the theatre was a little bit odd, with queues outside all the theatres we passed. I couldn't make out why. Why were people queuing along the streets and round the blocks? When we met Dezur later for dinner she thought it was the mid-week coach trips and out-of-towners having their night out in town. We just wandered to the front of the queue and went in through a door the queuers weren't using.

The show opens with the last act of the performance in the play, a musical about a wild west Robin Hood character, with the leading lady all done out in uber-vamp wild west get up, singing and dancing out of tune before she dies, the first to be murdered. But not the last. The show is panned by the critics which is the perfect opportunity for a song about critics. And then the lyricist takes the starring role to keep the show from closing (which must happen all the time, obviously). The rest of the musical is all about seeing them rehearse with the new leading lady as more people get bumped off and people fall in love until, *ta-da!* the killer is revealed! Or is he? I'll leave the ending dangling a bit...

I thoroughly enjoyed it! It's not a great musical in a classic sense, but it's fun, brash, nice songs and the actors are all good. I kept wondering whether the spoof of a whodunit was a bit too obvious as I could sometimes tell what the next line would be and whether it was being really clever and knowing in that respect or whether it was just a trifle lazy. I'm not sure, but I'm not really bothered either - it was a good evening's entertainment. All the theatrical and whodunit cliches are there in spades and that's part of it's glory, even down to the final bow where the whole cast comes on in cowboy outfits with David Hyde Pierce riding a horse that he promptly falls off, entirely in character.

David was really good as the star-struck police cop leading the homicide enquiry who is an am-dram actor in his spare time, helping the director improve the show. He falls for the understudy who sounds (deliberately or not?) like Shelley Long and their love blooms amongst the death around them. The lyricist and star is played by Karen Ziemba who has a good voice and lots of energy for the dance routines and the producer (who had a stream of knob jokes) was Debra Monk. Also worth noting was Edward Hibbett, as the camp British director with his pithy one-liners such as shouting out 'I did it!' when the cop explains how someone was murdered, only to follow it with, 'I'm the director, I'll take credit for everything'. I was taken by blond Shannon Lewis, the real-life understudy who was filling in for the actress who usually plays Bambi, the producers' daughter - I thought she was excellent and good fun.

All in all it was a good night out and I will be acquiring the soundtrack on my next trip to Virgin.