One addition to Milwaukee’s holiday entertainment roster this season has nothing to do with dancing nutcrackers or elderly English moneylenders. Instead, the cast of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s Murder Girl by Wisconsin playwright Heidi Armbruster is on the lookout for murder suspects. What could be a more unlikely source of Christmas cheer?
This diabolically clever murder mystery captures a unique combination of character development, plot twists and Wisconsin lore while maintaining its suspense from start to finish.
It’s also a huge success, attracting sellout crowds (in the intimate Studio Theatre) since it opened in mid-November. Most of the original performances were sold out before the play opened. This feat undoubtedly was based on the strength of the veteran actors in the cast, the theater company’s reputation and the hometown angle: it’s set in a supper club in northern Wisconsin. Murder Girl is artfully directed by Chamber Theatre’s artistic director Brent Hazelton.
In short, Murder Girl has become a must-see for local theatergoers. The show has been extended twice (to December 13) in the Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre.
The theater’s location, in Milwaukee’s bustling Third Ward, has itself become a vision of holiday decor. A small urban park at the theater’s edge is the site of one of the city’s most beloved live Christmas trees, now decked out in colorful Christmas lights.
The play is set in the days before Christmas. In true supper club fashion, the set’s décor includes a lighted Christmas garland that rings the ceiling of the expanded bar area. The twinkling garland doesn’t seem out of place amid the deer heads and stuffed muskies that adorn the restaurant’s faux wood-paneled walls. And don’t forget the myriad beer signs that are displayed throughout.
Thanks to Armbruster’s skillful writing, the characters are easily identifiable. In the first scene, LeeAnn (a completely convincing Bree Beelow) drives down from Minneapolis to visit this northern Wisconsin bar/restaurant she recently inherited from her mother, Marty.
We soon learn that Marty’s Supper Club is now managed full-time by LeeAnn’s twin brother, Eric (Matt Bowdren, equally convincing). He is the property’s co-owner. Two longtime waitresses (both named Charlotte) have stayed through the transition from mother to children (top-notch performances by Carrie Hitchcock and Colleen Madden). In terms of the performance level, that goes ditto for the muscular head cook, Ted (played with understated excellence by Joe Lino).
An unseen character is Jen, another longtime Marty’s waitress who has called in sick (again) when she claims she couldn’t start her car in the bitter Wisconsin weather.
We learn that Jen’s 25-year-old daughter, Emily, also used to work at Marty’s. However, Emily disappeared a few months earlier after LeeAnn fires her during a celebration called Bratfest. This is the restaurant’s biggest event of the year, and LeeAnn grew weary of Emily’s incompetence. Nobody in town (including Jen, the mother) has heard from Emily since then.
A discovery in the nearby woods puts the murder mystery aspect into play. We hear (but don’t see) Jen appear on the local TV news. She is trying to get information about what may have happened to Emily. Did someone from Marty’s have anything to do with Emily’s disappearance? Did LeeAnn’s anger get out of control? Did Eric’s affection for Emily go too far? And what about the (perhaps jealous) waitresses—and the taciturn cook? The play unfolds like a Wisconsin version of the board game Clue.
Well, don’t look for spoiler alerts here. Theatergoers will just have to buy a ticket to find out what transpires onstage. Before the mystery is solved, audiences must put together clues from a complicated series of events. Many of these bits are hilarious, such as Eric’s opening rant about his neighbor, Mr. Johnson. The current feud between Eric and Johnson rests on a giant, inflatable Viking that Johnson has set up on his property line. Eric insists this is an attempt to scare away business on a Packers game day.
The playwright provides plenty of comic material for Madden and Hitchcock, who are both well-known Wisconsin actors. Madden, a staple at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, is the comic ying to Hitchcock’s yang.
Cast changes due to the play's extension bring in Jenny Wanasek and Kelly Doherty, two well-known local actors, as the two waitresses. Wanasek displays her excellent comic timing. Doherty tones down her character to the point where the women’s exchanges seem less frantic than those produced by the original cast. But the laugh lines land solidly in both versions.
Bowdren (who plays Eric) and Beelow (LeeAnn) make a convincing set of adult twins. With no other family members in the picture, their affection for each other seems palpable. The theme of protecting family ties is very strong throughout this play. Even when the twins squabble (which is most of the time), we know that they’ll always protect each other’s back.
The entire cast of Murder Girl works as a finely tuned ensemble to keep audiences riveted throughout. The production is supported by a well-designed and authentically detailed set (by set designer Lisa Schlenker and props designer Simone Egge), lit expertly by Josh Schmidt. In the small Studio Theatre, every inch of Marty’s (including a glowing neon sign) can be appreciated up-close by the audience.
Murder Girl may be an unlikely holiday hit, but its success will warm the hearts of everyone who enjoys (and supports) local theater.
Murder Girl runs through December 13 in the Studio Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway, Milwaukee. The show runs 90 minutes without an intermission. For tickets and information, visit milwaukeechambertheatre.org.
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