This love triangle has taken a turn for the worse.
5th Wall Theatre, along with Artistic Director Carol Piersol and local Director Lucian Restivo, is producing the 2013 off-broadway show “Murder Ballad.” The musical was originally a book written by Julia Jordan, with music later written by Juliana Nash.
This love-story meets murder-mystery show features the life of Sara, a young woman who finds herself in a steamy affair after becoming disenchanted with domestic life. When the affair comes to light, tensions flare and a murder occurs.
“It’s sexy, it’s seductive, and it has this 90s vibe to it, which is really great,” said Director Lucian Restivo. “It’s completely sung through. There are very, very few lines, maybe three in the entire production.”
The performance will be held at Club Infuzion, a non-traditional theatre space in which patrons may enjoy dinner while watching the show happen all around them.
“The action for the audience is taking place all around them,” Restivo said. “It was very much a process of making sure that every audience member got the best story told to them, and making sure that they could see the whole show, too.”
The four-person cast is composed of the three characters and a narrator, who are portrayed by Katrinah Carol Lewis, Durron Tyre, Chris Hester, and Rachel Rose Gilmour, with music direction by Kim Fox.
The space is normally a dance club, but Restivo said 5th Wall transformed it completely to set the scene for the musical.
“People can arrive at 6:30 and get food and beverage, and have a nice dinner before the show. It’s a more edgy, contemporary take on dinner theatre,” he said. “Throughout the show, the action will take place all around them. There’s not a single space in the club that does not get used at some point in the show.”
The musical not only explores the intricacies of love, marriage, and home life, but asks audiences to question what sacrifices we will make for love, kind of love is worth the effort.
“It’s like an edgy version of a murder mystery,” Restivo explained.
The production is part of a month-long event titled ‘artoberVA,’ presented by CultureWorks and highlighting arts in culture in Richmond throughout the fall. “Murder Ballad” will run weekends through November 18 at Club Infuzion in Scott’s Addition, located at 1401 Roseneath Road. Tickets are $32 while students can buy tickets for $15 and can be purchased here.
