Calculated Murder Makes for Ninety Minutes of Fun at Burlington’s Drury Lane Theatre

By Emily R. Zarevich, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Burlington Local-News.ca

Update: This article has been updated slightly from its original form to clarify content.
Burlington’s sense of humour seems to be getting macabre: Drury Lane Theatre’s current offering, which began last week, saw everyone howling their heads off at the murder of a minister. At another point, a man getting stung to death by bees is the funniest background action in a scene. In the show’s prologue, the ensemble warned the audience in song that the play was going to be dark and disturbing, and that anyone who couldn’t handle it should exit the theatre immediately. No one abandoned their seats. Instead, everyone got drinks and snacks from the bar and settled in to be witnesses to a series of hilarious, heinous crimes.

On Friday, May 9, 2025, Drury Lane Theatre premiered its rendition of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, a musical comedy that takes British black humour and amplifies it to an uproarious degree. Directed by Michael MacLennan, this production is an ambitious undertaking that relies heavily on the charm of the actors, who are tasked with making their immoral, despicable, and vapid characters likeable. There are no shortcomings in this department. This show is impeccably cast with local talent.

Nathan Farmer stars as Montague “Monty” Navarro, an impoverished and disinherited claimant to the D’Ysquith earldom and fortune. On the day of his mother’s funeral, his mother’s cheeky friend Miss Shingle (played by Sheila Flis) informs him of his previously unknown distant relation to the current earl and puts all sorts of ideas of grandeur into his head about becoming the next one. Monty, who is all ambition and no moral fibre, subsequently cheerfully embarks on a killing spree to eliminate the seven members of the D’Ysquith family who stand in his way. In the meantime, he conducts a clandestine affair with the beautiful but flighty Sibella Hallward (played by Lindsay Orlowski) while simultaneously pursuing a more respectable courtship with his well-connected cousin Phoebe D’Ysquith (played by Melissa Todd).

Adam Holroyd is a shapeshifter in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Cast to play every single member of the D’Ysquith family (save Phoebe), he chameleons from a cowardly reverend to a flamboyant country squire, to a weak-willed stockbroker to a well-meaning but pompous old philanthropist. He also plays the snobbish Lord Adalbert, who, despite his vanity, wins the audience over with the satirical song, “I Don’t Understand the Poor.” Every character Holroyd depicts is doomed by the show’s very title, but he gives each and every one of them one last hurrah before their inevitable demise.

Farmer’s performance as Monty is a worthy succession to the role’s originator, Bryce Pinkham of Helluva Boss fame. Farmer’s Monty is convinced of the righteousness of his killings. As he insists to the audience and himself, he’s avenging his mother being cast out from the noble family and denied the chance to see her dreams for him fulfilled. A strong singing voice accompanies his act. The show’s signature love song, “Sibella”, is sung with yearning for an unattainable love interest. Todd also shines as the idealistic and oblivious Phoebe, whose love for Monty is a product of sheltered innocence and disinclination to be alone in the world. Recognizable members of the ensemble include Samantha Lindgren of Holiday Inn and Heather Hooper from Drury Lane’s 44th Music Hall.

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder will have multiple showings at the Drury Lane Theatre all the way to June 1. Tickets can be bought here. You won’t be called up to the stand to testify against Monty, but you will have a great time.