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    Theater Review

    Acting outshines music in A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder at Dallas' Winspear

    Alex Bentley
    Aug 17, 2016 | 4:03 pm

    One of the great things about the theater world is that there's room enough for all types of stories and productions. Big, bombastic musicals stand alongside small, intimate plays — as well as everything in between. And all are honored for their brilliance when it's earned.

    The Tony Award winners for Best Musical almost always reflect this openness, with both dramatic and comedic musicals, and all types of music, being showcased. While A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, the 2014 Best Musical winner, at first doesn’t seem to fit alongside other recent winners like The Book of Mormon, Fun Home, or Hamilton, its old-fashioned nature is precisely what makes it so interesting and fun.

    Set in 1909 London, Monty Navarro (Kevin Massey), a solidly middle-class Englishman, is given some shocking news: He has royal blood in his veins, but his mother had been disavowed by the D’Ysquith family years earlier. The love of his life, Sibella Hallward (Dallas native Kristen Beth Williams), wants to marry him except for one small fact: The person she weds must have money and power.

    While exploring how to take advantage of his newfound royal discovery, Monty hatches a plan: If he can somehow get rid of the eight remaining D’Ysquith heirs, he will inherit the title of Earl and be able to convince Sibella to marry him. This sets in motion a veritable bloodbath, as Monty finds ingenious ways to kill each living D’Ysquith, while trying to hide his murderous ways.

    In many respects, this production is a hybrid between a farce and a melodrama. Throw in the musical element, and it’s easy to see why it earned so many plaudits when it first debuted, as it enchants even as you’re wondering how it’s working its spell. One of the main ways is by having the same person (John Rapson) play every member of the D’Ysquith family, a concept that becomes funnier and funnier with each costume he wears and accent he acquires.

    Unlike most musicals, the music is not really the star. The songs are serviceable, moving the plot along, but there are only a few that will stick with you after you leave the theater. They include “Better With a Man” and “The Last One You’d Expect” in the first act, and “I’ve Decided to Marry You” in the second act. However, divorced of their context, it’s difficult to imagine them having the same impact while listening to them in your car.

    Instead, it’s the broad acting that does the trick. Rapson obviously gets the most play, given the number of characters he inhabits, but, after a slow start, Massey is every bit his equal. Williams, soon to be seen in Lyric Stage's Camelot, has much success playing the tarty and shallow Sibella, but it’s another woman, Kristen Mengelkoch, who absolutely steals the show in the second act as Lady Eugenia, the wife of Lord Adalbert D’Ysquith. Her bile-filled arguments with Rapson are enthralling and hilarious, with no music required.

    The story, the acting, and the small details, including the surprising flexibility of the set, all combine to make A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder a worthy addition to the list of recent great musicals. Its lack of memorable songs enhances the theater world’s idea of inclusiveness, showing that a great and, in this case, funny story can make up for even seemingly big faults.

    ---

    A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder runs at Winspear Opera House through August 28.

    Cast of A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder.

    A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
      
    Photo by Joan Marcus
    Cast of A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder.
    reviewsmusictheater
    news/entertainment

    Movie Review

    Brad Pitt auto racing film F1: The Movie has more vroom than story

    Alex Bentley
    Jun 26, 2025 | 1:40 pm
    Brad Pitt in F1: The Movie
    Photo by Scott Garfield / courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Apple Original Films
    Brad Pitt in F1: The Movie.

    The sport of auto racing has been tackled in a variety of ways over the years by filmmakers, with the intoxicating ability of the cars to go super-fast often overriding whatever story they’re trying to tell. The Formula 1 circuit has been the subject of several films based on real drivers, and now it’s at the center of a fictional story in F1: The Movie.

    Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is an aging driver who lives an itinerant lifestyle, traveling in a van to whatever kind of racing organization will give him a chance to show his skills. Ruben (Javier Bardem), an old competitor from Formula 1 who now owns his own team, comes calling when the lead driver of his team gets injured. Soon enough, Sonny has joined up with the team halfway through their season, with rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) as his teammate.

    The bulk of the film finds Sonny trying to impose his old-school ways on the modern sport, with crew members like Kate (Kerry Condon) and Kasper (Kim Bodnia) alternately bristling and marveling at his methods. Sonny and Joshua also spar, sometimes off track, but typically on, where the stubbornness of each threatens not only the success of the team as a whole, but also their safety.

    Directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Ehren Kruger, the filmmaking team tries to bring the same you-are-there feel that they did successfully in Top Gun: Maverick. And there’s no doubt that the film is at its best when it puts multiple cameras in a Formula 1 car while it navigates tight turns and speeds down straightaways, especially because it seems like Pitt and Idris actually did some of the driving. Even non-racing fans should come away impressed with what the cars and drivers are capable of.

    Now, if you’re looking for any kind of story, you’ve come to the wrong place. The Sonny-Joshua rivalry has a bit of juice to it, but not much. Unlike most sports movies, the film rarely goes outside of the team, so there’s no antagonist to be found in the film. In fact, were it not for the presence of other cars in the various races, you’d think that Sonny and Joshua were the only drivers, with an annoying commentator constantly talking about them alone, even when they’re far behind the leaders.

    The film also struggles with making the sport accessible for non-fans. With the winding courses the circuit uses, there’s far more to it than a car’s (and driver’s) ability to go really fast. The characters use lots of technical jargon about how the design of the car allows the driver to shave tenths of seconds off their times, but the filmmakers are not able to deliver that information in a manner compelling enough to draw the viewer in.

    Pitt, as he’s been for more than 30 years, is a magnetic presence who knows how to play to the camera. Sonny is not one of his most interesting characters, but he makes the role work overall. Idris, best known for starring in the FX series Snowfall, makes the case for being the film’s breakout star, giving his character plenty of charm and cockiness. Bardem, Condon, Tobias Menzies, and other members of the team are cast well, even if the story lets them down.

    As a showcase (aka advertisement) for the sport it depicts, F1: The Movie works relatively well, giving viewers a taste of what it’s like to actually be in a rocket on wheels. As a film, though, there’s not much to recommend, to the point that it almost negates any of the positives that come from the racing scenes.

    ---

    F1: The Movie opens in theaters on June 27.

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    news/entertainment
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