A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder Book by Robert L. Freedman

Music by Steven Lutvak

Lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak

About the play: Join us for a delightful evening of music, merriment… and murder. Set in the elegant

Edwardian era, A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder traces the brilliant trajectory of Monty

Navarro—a charmer, seducer and avenger—on his quest for recognition and family fortune. Tony Award-

winner Jefferson Mays stars in the world premiere musical comedy.

Grade Recommendation: 6th grade and up

Content Advisory: Contains some spooky imagery, cartoon-like violence resulting in death, and

suggestive dialogue.

Topics

Class and British Aristocracy

Lines of Succession

Musical Comedy

Adaptations of Literature

The Anti-hero

Themes

Ambition

Legacy

Status

Appearances Can Be Deceiving

Student Performance Series dates (both at 10:30 a.m.):

Wednesday, October 7

Thursday, October 8

Curriculum Standards

Student Performance Series performances and workshops provide unique opportunities for experiential

learning and support various combinations of Common Core standards in English Language Arts. They

may also support standards in other subject areas such as Social Studies and History, depending on each

play’s subject matter.

The experience of seeing and discussing A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder provides classroom

links to the following Common Core standards in English Language Arts:

Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details.

Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how

the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution (Grade 6).

Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the

characters or plot (Grade 7).

Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or

narrators in a text (Grade 8).

Analyze how complex characters (e.g. those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop

over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the

themes (Grades 9-10).

Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop related elements of a story

or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced

and developed) (Grades 11-12).

Reading Literature: Craft and Structure.

Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text (Grade 6).

Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or

narrators in a text (Grade 7).

Analyze how differences in points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g.,

created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor (Grade 8).

Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g.,

parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery,

tension, or surprise (Grades 9-10).

Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in

a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement) (Grades 11-12).

Student Performance Series workshops also support the following Connecticut state standards in Theatre

for grades 9-12:

2: Acting. Students will act by developing, communicating and sustaining characters.

5: Researching and Interpreting. Students will research, evaluate and apply cultural and

historical information to make artistic choices.

6: Connections. Students will make connections between theatre, other disciplines and daily life.

7: Analysis, Criticism and Meaning. Students will analyze, critique and construct meanings from

works of theatre.

About the Student Performance Series:

Our Student Performance Series packages include

1 free chaperone ticket for every 20 student tickets

Free study guides that include historical context, thematic analysis, questions for discussion, and

suggestions for learning activities (emailed to you in PDF format).

A talk back immediately following the performance. Hosted by a member of our education

department staff and featuring actors from the play, the talk back provides students with the

opportunity to ask questions and express their initial reactions to the play-going experience

through dialogue with artists and each other.

Pre- and post-show workshops are also available for an additional fee. Designed to help integrate the play

into your curriculum, our interactive workshops are led by a Hartford Stage teaching artist who visits your

classroom and gets students on their feet to explore the play’s major themes, plot points, and connections

to history and culture.

To book tickets for the Student Performance Series, please contact Chelsea Caplan, Education Sales

Coordinator at (860) 520-7244 or ccaplan@hartfordstage.org.