'A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder' opens in Tampa

Taking 11 years to write a single show paid off for Steven Lutvak and Robert L. Freedman.

Their only Broadway show, at least so far, is "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder." In 2014, it won four Tony Awards -- Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical and Best Costume Design.

But it wasn't easy, Lutvak said.

"It took 11 years to get this show to the stage," he said in a phone interview from his Manhattan studio. "You could argue that it was even longer, but it was 11 years from the time we first put pen to paper. Every obstacle that could have possibly been put in our way was put in our way. Producers died. We were sued for copyright infringement."

But they got past, around and over those obstacles, and now "Gentleman's Guide" is widely considered to be one of the best musicals to hit Broadway in recent years.

The Broadway show is scheduled to close in January after more than two years, and the first national tour just started this month. It comes to the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa. It opens Tuesday and runs through Oct. 25.

Lutvak said the touring show is every bit as strong as the Broadway version.

"It's not pared down," he said. "In fact, it's actually pared up, if it's possible to say that, because we're playing in bigger houses. And the cast we have is amazing. I'm not just saying that. The cast is absolutely fantastic."

The story comes from a 1907 novel called "Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal." It's about a man who discovers that he's in the line of succession for a title and a lot of money. But a lot of people -- his family members, in fact -- are in that line between him and the fortune.

He decides to murder them all.

If the plot seems familiar, it may be because it was made into a classic non-musical 1950 film, "Kind Hearts and Coronets." Alec Guinness played eight roles in the film.

Lutvak said he had seen that film years ago, and that's what sparked the idea for "Gentleman's Guide."

"I saw the movie," he said, "and I thought, 'That's a musical!'"

The musical is based on the novel more than the film, he said, and that had something to do with the lawsuit the show faced. The people who own the movie had given their blessing but changed their minds. Luckily for the show's creators, and for fans of somewhat twisted musical comedies, Lutvak and Freedman prevailed.

"The judge said, 'Goliath, you can't stop them. David, go ahead with what you're doing,'" Lutvak said. "There was more to it than that, but that's basically what happened."

Lutvak's music for the show is heavily stylized, and feels more like something you'd hear in an English music hall in the 1900s than a 21st-centriy Broadway musical. The melodies and lyrics are intricate, but they're hilarious.

"It's accessible," Lutvak said. "It's very funny, and I when I say it's funny, I mean people will laugh their butts off. It's lowbrow humor in highbrow wrapping.

Details: Oct. 20-25, Morsani Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa. Show times: 8 p.m. Tuesday and Friday, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $40-$95 plus service charge. Information: 813-229-7827, strazcenter.org.

Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.

This story was originally published October 16, 2015 at 6:08 PM with the headline "'A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder' opens in Tampa ."