By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com
The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 is not musical. Don’t worry though, it really is a comedy about murders in 1940.
Carmel Community Players (CCP) will stage this amusing madcap mayhem for all ages at the Ivy Tech Auditorium, 300 N. 17th St., Noblesville, from Feb. 24 through March 5. Director Elizabeth Ruddell told The Reporter it is a is a fast-paced and deliriously funny farce that takes place in an isolated mansion in the middle of a snowstorm.
The cast for this show draws actors from Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Indianapolis, Michigantown, Zionsville, and even Brownsburg.
“When you start doing a lot of theater you find out that some people will travel very far for a role and some people won’t,” Ruddell said. “When I cast, I don’t necessarily cast the age the playwright will say I should. I cast based on the actor’s interpretation of the part.”
Ruddell has only worked with four members of her 11-member cast, which she sees as a benefit for this production.
“I had heard about some of the other people before, and at the auditions there were some people I have never met before,” Ruddell said. “It is always very exciting when you find somebody new who is absolutely perfect, and you know will be wonderful to work with.”
Ruddell has been both a professional actor and a professional director in her stage life, and she has a fair bit of experience working with the challenges of bringing a comedy to stage.
“You find out very early that everybody has to play the comedy as if it is real life,” Ruddell said. “They have to believe absolutely in what they’re saying, otherwise a comedy doesn’t come off. Everybody has to believe in their character and what is going on in order for it to be funny. It seems as though today, because of COVID having happened, that a lot of people want to go to the theater to laugh and forget about their worries.”
Ruddell noted that some theaters are finding dramas to be a tougher sell, which is why she is grateful and enthusiastic about offering audiences a comedy with CCP.
The show is about the creative team responsible for a recent Broadway flop in which three chorus girls were murdered by the mysterious “Stage Door Slasher.” They assemble for a backer’s audition of their new show at the Westchester estate of a wealthy angel investor The house is replete with sliding panels, secret passageways and a German maid who is apparently four different people – all of which figure diabolically in the comic mayhem that follows when the infamous slasher makes his reappearance and strikes again.
The show opens Friday, Feb. 24. Go to carmelplayers.org/tickets or call (317) 815-9387 for tickets. This show is recommended for ages 13 and up.
Character Actor (City)
HELSA WENZEL Tanya Haas (Carmel)
ELSA VON GROSSENKNUETEN Richelle Lutz (Michigantown)
SGT. MICHAEL KELLY Sam Brown (Moresville)
PATRICK O’REILLY Robert Fimreite (Noblesville)
KEN DE LA MAIZE Kelly Keller(Fishers)
NIKKI CRANDALL Hannah Janowicz (Carmel)
EDDIE MCCUEN Jeffrey Haber (Indianapolis)
MARJORIE BAVERSTOCK Eboni Wallace (Brownsburg)
ROGER HOPEWELL Eric Bowman (Noblesville)
BERNICE ROTH Amber Roth (Indianapolis)
PIB O. Carrier (Indianapolis)
Directed by Elizabeth Ruddell (Zionsville)