Set on the private island of recently deceased music mogul Morgan Tremain, where all the people he had a grudge with in his life have been assembled for the reading of his will, Murder Mystery Musical could best be described as a bit of a melodramatic romp.On reading the will, and predictably its Morgans own voice from beyond the grave, we discover that he plans to leave his substantial fortune to just one of them; and its the last man standing that gets the loot, since all others will die.The larger-than-life characters are forgivably stereotypical for this is more Panto than Pinter. Theres a deliberate Old Time Music Hall feel to the show which lets it get away with the corniest of jokes and sauciest of lyrics. And once you realise that youre at the end of the pier, the whole thing gets very easy to enjoy.First to be bumped off is photographer Jasper, who was probably as surprised as I was to find having your eye out could be terminal. The remaining players are dispatched one-by-one using methods that match the song titles of Morgans number one hits. Private Dick Gaston Lemon, who has a bizarre Irish-Belgian accent that would make Poirot wince, is the clueless comic relief who washes up on this scene and attempts to solve the puzzle.Ok, so the script is clumsy at times and the plot is as deep as a puddle, but as a whole the show just sort of works. You get into the swing of it and realise youre wearing a broad grin at all the superficial loveliness of it all. High brow it is not, but for entertainment it certainly delivers.
