Character assassination
Jul. 14—details
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
$15 to $30
* July 14 through August 12
* 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays
* 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays (Except July 15)
* Pay-what-you-will performance July 14
Santa Fe Playhouse, 142 E. De Vargas Street
505-988-4262, boxoffice@santafeplayhouse.org; santafeplayhouse.org
At a recent rehearsal for A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, a red-faced David Stallings boorishly shouts at characters unfortunate enough to be within insulting distance, his eyes flickering with madcap aggression.
A fair-minded observer might admit, "I wouldn't mind seeing that character get killed off." That wish comes true soon enough when Stallings' bile-spewing character Lord Adalbert D'Ysquith is poisoned.
Well, one of Stallings' characters. Stallings portrays eight detestable members of the high-society D'Ysquith (pronounced DIE-squith) family, all of whom stand in fellow main character Monty Navarro's way of inheriting Britain's financially lucrative Earldom of Highhurst. Among the more exotic ways in which Navarro kills off Stallings' characters, directly or indirectly, are cutting a hole in a frozen lake; setting a character up for relentless stings from a swarm of bees; and allowing a decapitation by dumbbell.
It's Stallings' job to ensure that these characters' deaths are satisfying to the audience, paving the way for the morally flawed Navarro, portrayed by John Alejandro Jeffords, to come across more like a scamp and less like a sociopathic social climber. Jeffords narrates the story — which hinges on the D'Ysquith family disowning his character's mother for racist reasons — while also singing, interacting with other actors, and remaining seated for long periods. It's a big job for both Stallings and Jeffords; the two-act play is 2 1/2 hours and runs a month, with two performances on most Saturdays, through August 12 at the Santa Fe Playhouse.
Stallings, who uses the plural pronoun "they," says they have wanted to play the D'Ysquiths since seeing A Gentleman's Guide on Broadway in 2014. In preparing for the role in Santa Fe, Stallings read Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Horniman, the 1907 novel upon which the play is based.
"It's much darker than this interpretation, and it's beautifully written," says Stallings, who wrote and starred in the 2022 Playhouse production The Baby Monitor. "It deals with some heavy, heavy issues. But I think it's really important to talk about classism and racism, and that's what Monty is dealing with in the play. I think that's why you root for Monty. If you're reading the book, I don't think you're rooting for him."
While Stallings' characters growl, Jeffords gets to play one who grows.
"My character does have a pretty big journey from the beginning to the end in terms of social class, status, and confidence," says Jeffords, who's making his Playhouse debut. "The play opens right after his mother's funeral, and he's super low.
"At the end, I have to be this more astute version of my character. He doesn't completely change and drop his neuroses or his feelings of inadequacy just because he has more social status now. So keeping it truthful to who he is in the beginning, even at the end, is the trick."
While all the D'Ysquiths' deaths are meant to amuse, one bears coincidental similarities to the October 2021 Rust film set shooting involving actor Alec Baldwin near Santa Fe. In that case, which spurred criminal investigations and civil lawsuits, a prop gun held by Baldwin discharged a bullet, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
In the play, a prop gun thought to be unloaded is used in the killing of Lady Salome D'Ysquith Pumphrey. While several of the D'Ysquiths' deaths are shown onstage, this one is not.
"I have been thinking about this every day, because I know that happened not far from here, and I'm very conscious that this affected the community," says director Rebecca Aparicio. "We're putting a content warning in the lobby of the theater. We've been very intentional about keeping this as far toward the comedy as possible so it doesn't skew in any way toward the tragedy that happened in New Mexico."
The play begins with an unrelated verbal warning about the play's content; actors portraying mourners advise "those of you of weaker constitution" to leave. That might be a vestige from a previous, darker version of the play, Aparicio says.
"I've heard an amazing anecdote about how it used to have a very dark opening, like Monty was hanging at the beginning for his crimes," she says. "There wasn't a warning to the audience. The writers were sitting in the audience during previews, and in front of them, a wife turned to her husband and said, 'Oh, I thought this was a comedy.' So the writers wrote a warning to the audience, to make sure that the tone is set that this is a comedy, and it's going to be kooky. It's going to be about murder, but it's also going to be funny."
Pull Quote
A Gentleman's Guide has 45 scenes, Aparicio says, adding that she has never worked as a director on a production that changes so much and requires so much work for its ensembles.
Jeffords and Stallings acknowledge that it's a grind. Stallings undergoes numerous, and often quick, costume changes and credits costume designer Erica Frank for aptly handling an unusually mountainous task. As for preparation, Stallings doesn't speak on Mondays in a bid to rest their voice, a limit that might sound odious to some.
"It's lovely, actually, when you're processing as much as we are in this rehearsal process," Stallings says.
Jeffords says he doesn't know of many other shows in which almost every actor — A Gentleman's Guide has 10 — portrays multiple characters. As the play's only near-constant character, he serves as the production's unofficial backbone and coordinator; in addition to being an actor and a singer, his statements and movements are vital to others' timing. It requires active listening in addition to acting.
After the first rehearsal, "It got to the end and I was pretty wiped because I felt like my brain had been on high alert for the whole 2 1/2 hours," Jeffords says. "But now that we're starting to do a few more runs, I'm starting to chart it a little better. It is good to feel the growth happening and feel my body figuring it out, but it is a marathon."
A big part of that marathon is the singing. New Mexico's dryness presents challenges; even performers who grew up in Northern New Mexico and moved away, such as Española native Santiago Alberto, have said they must vigilantly protect their voices during return performances.
"I'm sure that everyone has their humidifier going on at all times, because I know I do," Aparicio says. "I'm still acclimating to the dry climate, coming from New York, which is so humid. Everybody has their own little trick that works for them [to stay hydrated]. My voice teacher in college suggested drinking Mountain Dew if you're having vocal problems because it has vegetable oil in it and coats your throat. I mean, it's terrible for you, but it coats your throat."
Play music director Stephen Anthony Elkins also keeps busy; A Gentleman's Guide features 23 musical numbers, the titles of most leaving little to the imagination. They include "I Don't Know What I'd Do" — which isn't about the prospect of having to drink Mountain Dew — as well as "I Don't Understand the Poor," "That Horrible Woman," and "Why Are All the D'Ysquiths Dying?" If the songs sound distinctive in their construction, that's not a coincidence.
"In most musicals, there's a large ensemble that has some sopranos, some tenors, some basses, and everybody is singing various parts," Jeffords says. "In this show, each ensemble person has their own vocal line, and they're all singing a specific part. So it's really intricate — a whole different beast than a lot of other shows."
"Beast" doubles as a good way to describe the disagreeable D'Ysquiths.
"David and I talk a lot about how to make the characters hateful enough that we kind of justify why Monty is killing them," Aparicio says. "It's important for the comedy for them to be as terrible as they can be."
About A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Newly orphaned Monty Navarro — a.k.a. Lord Montague D'Ysquith Navarro — learns he is ninth in the line of succession to inherit Britain's financially alluring Earldom of Highhurst. His mother had been a member of the D'Ysquith clan, only to be disowned for marrying a Castilian man. Navarro decides to kill all eight D'Ysquiths in his way — and, despite his guilt in seven slayings, ends up jailed for one he didn't commit. The play begins in his cell.
Killing the D'Ysquiths isn't Navarro's only morally questionable act. He courts a young member of the family as he's killing her relatives, while at the same time keeping a mistress.
The words and lyrics are written by Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak. The story is based on the 1907 novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Horniman.
The play premiered at a Connecticut theater in late 2012, then ran on Broadway from November 2013 to January 2016. It won four Tony Awards in 2014, including for best musical.
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
$15 to $30
Santa Fe Playhouse, 142 E. De Vargas Street
7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, through August 12 (pay-what-you-will performance Friday, July 14; no matinee performance Saturday, July 15)
505-988-4262, boxoffice@santafeplayhouse.org; santafeplayhouse.org
