REVIEW: A killer party - a murder mystery musical

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Is there a Line of Duty shaped hole in your life? Well, A Killer Party serves up a laugh out loud funny, musical murder mystery that might just fill that gap, and give you a more satisfying ending!

You’re invited to a deadly dinner party where host Varthur MacArthur, Artistic Director of a regional theatre, is having a read through of his latest play.

Unfortunately, instead of bringing a bottle of wine to the party, the cast of local actors bring their own grudges and secrets to the table.

So when Varthur is found dead face down in a bowl of soup, a plucky Detective/Traffic Warden is called in. She points fingers at the singing suspects until she eventually solves the murder case.

Who’s cast in this deadly dinner?

The cast is mighty and seriously, all of their performances are stellar. I won’t name everyone but a few stand outs for me include:

Jason Manford who totally played up to the ‘full of it’ Director and can sure belt out a tune. Emma Salvo who was on the case as Justine Case with a spot on comic Detective performance.

And Lucas Rush who made me laugh hard as Clarke, the overstretched and underappreciated Stage Manager with an over the top cry.

What about the quality?

It has to be said, the production values are lacking in this recorded musical.

In a covid safe way, they cleverly filmed each actor separately and stitched them together in editing. It worked well. It just lacked finesse. They are sure to make jibes of this with a cheeky wink wink.

I did enjoy all of the nods to lockdown life, with only zoom, baking and tik tok to survive your isolated boredom. It validated the cheap and cheerful nature of the show.

I also adored the Tim Burton-esque animated set used to illustrate the house. It was such a creative way to visualise the party guests whereabouts in the home.