A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

I dare you not to fall in love with "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder," the sharp, droll musical making a happy, if brief visit to the Shubert through Sunday. Though what may seem strange is that it asks you to fall in love with its hero - a serial killer who murders with a cool determination that Sweeney Todd would envy. That isn't to suggest that Monty Navarro is anything like Sondheim's demon barber; Monty is as cool as Todd is hot, and far more calculating as he sets out to eliminate his relations that keep him from achieving his goal: the coveted earldom of Highhurst and all that entails.

If the story sounds vaguely familiar that is because the musical is lifted from the same source as the classic British black comedy "Kind Hearts and Coronets," the 1908 novel "Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal" by Roy Horniman. For some legal reasons the film is not cited in the program, yet it maintains the clever device of having the same actor play all the victims, members of the D'Ysquith (pronounced Dye-squith) clan.

They are a snotty, silly and largely unpleasant lot, and were wonderfully realized in the film in tour-de-force performance by Alec Guinness. In the touring production the D'Ysquiths are realized with considerable comic aplomb by John Rapson. Mr. Rapson morphs from one D'Ysquith to another, be it a foppish Lothario, a macho martinet or a blowsy dowager, with astonishing speed and dexterity with considerable help from costume designer Linda Cho. He is hilarious throughout.

What this adaptation does so well is capture the subversive tone of the film, which turns mass murder into a delightful game of revenge. What sparks the industrious, though penniless Monty is learning that his recently deceased mother was a member of the D'Ysquith family, but was disinherited when she married for love a man below her station. This information is conveyed him by Miss Shingle, a mysterious old friend of her mother (in a funny comic turn by Jennifer Smith) who proves crucial to the plot later on.

What also spurs Monty on is his love for Sibella Hallward (the amazing Kristen Beth Williams), a beautiful social climber who plays with Monty's affections while being engaged to a wealthy rival. When the D'Ysquiths reject Monty's plea for help, his plan falls into place and the musical spins into a higher gear. The murders (and one happily natural death) comprise most of the first act and transpire in a series of sketch-like scenes that take place on a stage-within-a-stage, one of the clever features of Alexander Dodge's set - a rendering of an ornate Victorian theater framed with ornate detail and lush red curtains.

Under the assured hand of Darko Tresnjak, Monty's quest for dukedom unfolds with both speed and black humor, especially in the staging of the murders that can be shockingly funny. (My favorite is the one involving the blustering macho D'Ysquith who dies while weight-lifting.) What Tresnjak does extraordinarily well is channel the cartoonish tone of the film and allow the audience to root for the charmingly amoral Monty, played with boyish innocence by the sure-voiced Kevin Massey. He's a bad boy with whom we do fall in love who offers a solid counterweight to the mercurial Mr. Rapson.

By the second act Monty is caught up in a romantic triangle with Sibella, with whom he is having an affair, and Phoebe D'Ysquith (a sure-voiced Kristen Hahn), the sister of one of his victims who, thankfully, doesn't stand in the way of his quest for the dukedom. The three battle in the show's best number, the intricate "I've Decided to Marry You," in which Phoebe interrupts a tryst between Monty and Sibella, that is impeccably performed. One of the reasons "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" works so well is the seamless integration of the book and score (the work of Robert. L Freedman, who wrote the book, and Steven Lutvak, who wrote the music; the pair take credit for the lyrics). The songs evoke Gilbert and Sullivan in the age of Sondheim - a pastiche comfortable for contemporary ears. They are well-worth a second listen if only to enjoy its clever, intricate lyrics.

It isn't often that a stage adaptation equals the appeal of its source material, but "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" takes a droll, darkly comedy film and spins it into a deliriously funny musical-comedy. It is served up in an impeccably staged and performed production that lets you root for its improbable hero's quest for legitimacy. Murder most foul has never been as much fun.

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder continues through October 23, 2016 at the Shubert Theatre, 265 Tremont Street, Boston, MA. For more information, visit the Citi Performing Arts Center website.