A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (Broadway) (2013)

This is a very strange musical.  The far-fetched plot: a man discovers that he is a member of the very rich D'ysquith family, except there are eight relatives ahead of him for the earldom of Highhurst.  These eight relatives all with different personas, ages, and genders are played by the same actor (Tony-nominated Jefferson Mays was off but his understudy was excellent in his own right).  Each murder is more ridiculous than the last and you sort of just have to go with it.  The opening number is sung by mourners who warn the audience that the play will be disturbing.

This show benefits from some very creative and clever staging. There is a smaller stage with an elegant red curtain that sits front and center atop the actual stage.  The smaller stage extends out from time to time to accommodate the actors, who at times exit the smaller stage to act on the main stage.  The main stage has a semicircle that protrudes above and around the pit. The back of the stage has a moving LED screen that enhances some of the murder scenes.  The best scene is "I've Decided to Marry You," in which Monty moves between two rooms separated by a corridor.  This is depicted by two doorways facing perpendicular to the audience so the audience can see both rooms.  And there is some excellent, fun counterpoint between Monty, Phoebe and Sibella in this scene.

In all its ridiculousness, the play is actually very funny.  The actor who plays the D'ysquith family enunciates all of his lines very clearly, leading to some very visible spit.  then in Act II, this is acknowledged in a very comical scene that involves a spitting battle of sorts.