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The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 is a short comedy by John Bishop. The play was first performed on Broadway on April 6, 1987, in The Longacre Theatre, and was first directed by John Bishop. The play is said to have been based on several 1940s mystery movies, including The Cat and the Canary, one of Bob Hope's first films.
The play takes place in a mansion in Chappaqua, New York in December of 1940, specifically, the library. The mansion is owned and inhabited by Elsa Von Grossenknueten, and her maid, Helsa Wenzel.
In the opening scene, we see Helsa ...Read More
The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 is a short comedy by John Bishop. The play was first performed on Broadway on April 6, 1987, in The Longacre Theatre, and was first directed by John Bishop. The play is said to have been based on several 1940s mystery movies, including The Cat and the Canary, one of Bob Hope's first films.
The play takes place in a mansion in Chappaqua, New York in December of 1940, specifically, the library. The mansion is owned and inhabited by Elsa Von Grossenknueten, and her maid, Helsa Wenzel.
In the opening scene, we see Helsa is killed by a masked figure. We also see Else talking to a police officer, Michael Kelly, about some sort of undercover scheme. Both seem to be unaware of the maid's murder.
The next morning, we see Helsa again, only now her entire personality seems to have changed overnight. The guests Elsa has invited soon begin to arrive. They have been invited for a backer's audition to the Musical White House Merry-Go-Round.
The first of the invited guests is an Irish tenor named Patrick O'Reilly. He's quickly followed by a theatre director named Ken De La Maize, and a singer/dancer named Nikki Crandall. Nikki is followed in by a young (and bad) comedian named Eddie McCuen, who takes an instant liking to Nikki.
While talking, Eddie realizes that everyone coming (including Marjorie Baverstock, the producer, and Roger Hopewell and Bernice Roth, the writers) were all part of the creative team that made Manhattan Holliday, in which The Stage Door Slasher murdered three women. Eddie instantly wants to leave, but decides to stay after the rest of the team enters and woos him into staying.
After things get underway, Marjorie is murdered and the body of Helsa is discovered. It doesn't take long for everyone to figure out that one of them is The Stage Door Slasher.
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