Critical Reaction

Critical Reaction

"Please give a hearty welcome to Monty Navarro, the conniving killer who helps turn murder most foul into entertainment most merry.... Despite the high body count, this delightful show will lift the hearts of all those who've been pining for what sometimes seems a lost art form: musicals that match streams of memorable melody with fizzily witty turns of phrase. ...Mr. Lutvak and Mr. Freedman may be reworking forms that have been previously established, primarily the patter song and the romantic ballad. But their score still establishes itself as one of the most accomplished (and probably the most literate) to be heard on Broadway in the past dozen years or so."
– The New York Times

"Adorably wicked.... Although the naughty lyrics are the sweetest of the show's bitter treats, Steven Lutvak's music invites its own independent smiles.  Buffed to a shine by Jonathan Tunick's orchestrations and played by a splendid pit orchestra, these lethal ditties are a pastiche of everything the English musical theater holds dear, from Noel Coward to Gilbert and Sullivan."
– Variety

"The new undisputed king of musical comedy. Filled with lunatic sight gags and the wittiest, loveliest show tunes in years. [...Lutvak and Freedman's] songs, too organic and surprising to be dismissed as pastiche, assimilate influences from Gilbert and Sullivan, Sondheim and English music hall. They range from broadly satiric "I Don't Understand the Poor" to the campy "Better with a Man" and the brilliantly constructed operatta-ish trio "I've Decided to Marry You.'"
– TimeOut New York

"Thoroughly delightful and uproarious. ...This production's secret weapon isn't the poison in Monty's pocket but Lutvak's jaunty score, which sounds both fresh and period-perfect with its echoes of Gilbert and Sullivan and classic British music hall. And the lyrics are as gut-bustingly clever as anything in The Book of Mormon. ...No one is likely to get sick of the black comedy in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, which remains winsome and charming despite an alarming surfeit of devious and devilish characters. Quite simply, it's a bloody good time."
– Entertainment Weekly

"It glitters like gold!"
– The Wall Street Journal

"Hilarious satire on Edwardian melodrama. ...The farcical vaudevillian tour de force features a book by Robert L. Freedman, rousing music by Steven Lutvak, and wry, wonderful lyrics by Freedman and Lutvak that call to mind the light-hearted puns and wit of Noel Coward."
– The Associated Press

"Propelled by a rollicking story, humor of the most delectable amorality and the cleverest lyrics assembled in quite some time."
– The Hollywood Reporter

"An extremely clever, exquisitely staged send-up of Edwardian England, with a heady pastiche score. ...The songs evoke a range of influences, from the British music hall to Noel Coward to Gilbert and Sullivan, accompanied by dialogue that at times suggests Oscar Wilde."
– The Record

"Exquisitely constructed.... Clever, charming, inspired - all of the above. ...A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder could easily serve as a primer itself on how to put on an intelligent crowd-pleaser with supreme wit and ingenuity."
– NY1

"[A] perfectly picaresque little piece of faux-Edwardian stuff and nonsense. Featuring a droll book by Robert L. Freedman and a chirpy score by Steven Lutvak (the two share credit for the lyrics), this show proves once again how the lovable serial killer is a type whose appeal hardly is limited to premium cable."
– The Chicago Tribune

"I've never laughed so hard at a Broadway musical! ...This is something we don't really see on Broadway anymore. There's a new surprise at every turn!"
– NPR

"The composing team has provided an abundant score that reflects any number of influences, from European opera to Gilbert and Sullivan to hints of Romberg, along with elaborate lyrics that are just as funny and inventive as the musical's plot and physical comedy. ...A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is polished, professional and everything that one could expect from a Broadway show."
– The Examiner

"The music for "Gentleman's Guide" gives continual pleasure. Composer Steven Lutvak brilliantly tips the top hat to Gilbert and Sullivan in patter pieces, and, in the show's several waltzes, gives a smiling nod to Viennese operetta ... in the end, everything sounds remarkably fresh, thanks to how the lyrics - Lutvak and Freedman share the credit for those - effortlessly serve the music, and vice versa."
–The Baltimore Sun