It's the brassy, bright, and promising year of 1959. Boston's Colonial Theatre is host to the opening night performance of a new musical. When the leading lady mysteriously dies on stage the entire cast and crew are suspects. Enter a local detective, who just happens to be a musical theatre fan!
The company uses the down time to attempt to fix the show's problems. Niki, Ms. Cranshaw's understudy, is passed up for the leading role in favor of Georgia, whom the producers convince to assume the part despite the protests of Aaron, who has fallen in love with her again, and despite her long absence from the stage. Cioffi, a theater fan and amateur actor, becomes more involved with saving the show than solving the case. The detective also finds himself falling for Niki, and she seems to return his affection, so he hopes she's not the murderer. Meanwhile, secrets are surfacing, the production numbers in ROBBIN' HOOD are rewritten, rehearsed and rewritten again, and the body count is rising, now including Sidney and Johnny, and an attempt at Carmen. Finally, it turns out that the murderer of Jessica, Johnny, and almost Carmen is a critic named Daryl Grady, Niki's old boyfriend who didn't want her to move away to New York, so he decided he would do anything to stop the show. Sidney's murderer is Carmen, because she wanted Bambi, her daughter, to move on to Broadway, but Sidney was going to close the show. In the end, it is decided that Lt. Cioffi wouldn't "solve" that part of the mystery until after ROBBIN' moves on to Broadway.
Cast Requirements: 8 Men, 5 Women and ensemble.
Set Requirements: Set in 1959. A "show" within a "show".
Perfect for professional and community theatres, high schools and colleges.
Genre / Style: New Musical Comedy
Rehearsal / Orchestral Material: 25 Cast Scripts
25 Vocal Books
3 Director’s Scripts
2 Piano-Vocal Scores
Orchestra Package (15 Books)
BASS, DRUMS,GUITAR, HORN 1 & 2, KEYBOARD, PERCUSSION, REED 1 (Flute, Piccolo, Alto Saxophone, Clarinet), REED 2 (Oboe, English Horn, Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet), REED 3 (Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone), REED 4 (Flute, Baritone Saxophone, Bassoon, Clarinet), TROMBONE 1, TROMBONE 2, TRUMPET 1, TRUMPET 2.
CAST RECORDING AVAILABLE
Musical Numbers: Wide Open Spaces, What Kind Of Man? Thinking of Him, The Woman's Dead, Show People, Coffee Shop Nights, In the Same Boat, I Miss the Music, Thataway! The Man is Dead, He Did It, It's A Business, Kansasland and many more...