by Josh Ajiwibawa ’25
As the 2023-2024 school year is quickly flying by, Bellarmine Theatre Arts is ready to present its new fall musical, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder. With performances coming up soon, we interviewed the director of the musical, Mr. Canavese, to find out some more about the upcoming musical.
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Mr. Canavese – Theatre Arts Director
Q: How long have you and the actors been preparing for the musical?
A: Preparing a play is a long process, from selecting the show to design and production meetings to set construction, auditions, costuming, lighting and sound design, and rehearsals. Long story short, student crew and actors will have been at work for two months once the show opens.
Q: What is the general storyline/background behind the musical?
A: The play–which won Best Musical at the Tony Awards–is a comedy about a young Englishman who discovers he is an unacknowledged heir to a noble family. Spurned by them, he decides to murder those who stand in the way of his inheritance. Which doesn’t sound very funny–but it is!
Q: Is there anything unique about this musical that is different from any previous shows that have been put together before?
A: One of the special things about this play is that one actor plays nine members of the same family–so Kavan Bhatia plays 7 men and 2 women that are all relatives of each other. That requires the most lightning-fast costume changes you’ll see outside of a Taylor Swift concert.
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A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder is set to premiere on Friday, November 3rd, and will continue to run until Saturday, November 11th. In total, there will be six shows in total, taking place on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th, and 11th days of November. Tickets are selling pretty fast, so make sure to purchase yours soon! We hope to see you with us in Sobrato Theater to appreciate the hard work the cast and directors have put in!
Thumbnail Credit: Bellarmine Theatre Arts Instagram