An original stage musical from an Okotoks playwright is set to premiere this weekend.
Maren Ord Burnham's The Night of the Murder is a family-friendly murder mystery comedy written by Maren Ord Burnham, who also wrote and produced the music.
Its two central characters are Kate and Steve, a married couple looking to reignite their relationship which has fallen into the doldrums over the years.
Wanting to introduce some spontaneity, the couple dresses up for a fancy dinner at a boat restaurant and soon finds themselves surrounded by a cast of eccentric characters.
"They end up getting on the wrong boat and become entangled in this insane group of people who are all wealthy, entitled, crazy, and that's where most of the comedy comes from," says Chris Beazley, who plays Steve. "That's where these super interesting and fun characters come from. These eighties, rich, spoiled playwrights, business people, just bratty people. And as we get to know these people, we become entangled in the murder of the evening."
Kate and Steve are very much the audience surrogate characters of the story, explains Beazley.
"Playing the straight people amongst the crazy, we become someone who people will relate to, but rather than just relating to us, they will all of a sudden relate to being in the middle of this chaos and everybody will find a place there through the straight characters."
The Night of the Murder features a relatively small cast of 10, making for a more intimate production without the larger ensemble numbers seen in many musicals.
It was a new direction for Ord Burnham, but a welcome one.
"I personally prefer writing for a larger show where there is an ensemble. I was trying something new by having a smaller cast and I don't regret it, but I do love the big dancey ensemble feeling shows, but there is something really fun about this show. And it being a murder mystery, I mean, you can't have like a million suspects, right? So it's good to just keep it to a cast of 10."
Mandee Marcil, who plays Kate, finds that the smaller cast enabled Burnham to more deeply develop connections among her characters, especially for a murder mystery, a genre typically laser-focused on the farcical.
"I feel like some of the deeper relationship pieces are something that's not typical in a murder mystery. The fact that there is a very real relationship that could or could not be in very real trouble, no spoilers or anything... What you see crystallized on stage is very different from the typical 'Everything is zany,' 'That guy is dead, oh no!'"
With this being an original story, there's no movie or prior production for the actors to base their performance on or deviate from.
Mandee Marcil, who plays Kate, is thrilled to bring this character to life for the first time.
"This is going to sound so pretentious, but I think it's really important as an actor to be able to, to be able to read the character and inject your own personal experiences because that's what's going to help you really break through to your audience and to your castmates and your scene partners. We're also really blessed in this experience because I know a handful of us in the show, Chris and I included have been involved in the workshopping process for a couple of years at this point. So you kind of feel pretty connected to it already."
Conversely, Beazley has felt some pressure associated with being the first actor to interpret a character in a stage production, but with this being his third role in one of Ord Burnham's works, he's grown to appreciate the opportunity.
"In the first couple that I did with Maren, I found that a bit intimidating because I'm someone who likes to watch the movie and just see how other people have done it and copy it if it's really funny. But now it's a chance to give it your all. Nobody has anything to compare to, so whether or not they judge it as enjoyable or entertaining is entirely up to you, not up to whoever has done it before. There's no pressure that way."
"Marin is exceptional at what she does and she creates things that are worth seeing. So these things that we get to do for the first time, I feel very privileged to be a part of with the full expectation that we will see them on a bigger stage someday. And I will be able to remember when we had these humble beginnings. And so for people in the community, be a part of that humble beginning and come and give this a shot and some support. It's worth it," says Beazley.