Getting Away with Murder (play)
Encyclopedia
Getting Away with Murder is a play written by Stephen Sondheim
and George Furth
. The action centers on seven well-to-do patients of an eminent psychiatrist meeting for their weekly group therapy
session. During a fierce Manhattan
thunderstorm, the patients arrive and soon discover that their doctor has been killed. Wanting to avoid bad publicity, "the patients conduct their own investigation amid power blackouts, sightings of phantom figures on the terrace outside, and enigmatic messages on the doctor's answering machine
."
began on February 20, 1996. After 29 preview performances the show opened on March 17. The Broadway production closed on March 31 after a mere 17 performances.
in 1995, the play opened September 10 and closed October 21, directed by Jack O'Brien
. O'Brien remained the director when the show later moved to Broadway.
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
and George Furth
George Furth
George Furth was an American librettist, playwright, and actor.-Biography:Furth was born George Schweinfurth in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Evelyn and George Schweinfurth...
. The action centers on seven well-to-do patients of an eminent psychiatrist meeting for their weekly group therapy
Group psychotherapy
Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group...
session. During a fierce Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
thunderstorm, the patients arrive and soon discover that their doctor has been killed. Wanting to avoid bad publicity, "the patients conduct their own investigation amid power blackouts, sightings of phantom figures on the terrace outside, and enigmatic messages on the doctor's answering machine
Answering machine
The answering machine or message machine, also known as the telephone answering machine in the UK and some Commonwealth countries) and previously known as an ansaphone, ansafone, or telephone answering device is a device for answering telephones and recording callers' messages.Unlike voicemail,...
."
Broadway production
Previews for Getting Away with Murder at the Broadhurst TheatreBroadhurst Theatre
The Broadhurst Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 235 West 44th Street in midtown Manhattan.It was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, a well-known theatre designer who had been working directly with the Shubert brothers; the Broadhurst opened 27 September 1917...
began on February 20, 1996. After 29 preview performances the show opened on March 17. The Broadway production closed on March 31 after a mere 17 performances.
The Doctor Is Out (1995)
The play was originally produced under the title The Doctor Is Out. In that incarnation, staged at the Old Globe TheatreOld Globe Theatre
The Old Globe is a professional theatre company located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It produces about 15 plays and musicals annually in summer and winter seasons...
in 1995, the play opened September 10 and closed October 21, directed by Jack O'Brien
Jack O'Brien (director)
Jack O'Brien is an American director, producer, writer and lyricist. He served as the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California from 1981 through the end of 2007....
. O'Brien remained the director when the show later moved to Broadway.
External links
- Getting Away with Murder, theater review by Jeremy Gerard for VarietyVariety (magazine)Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
(17 March 1996) - A Most Sinister Gathering of Not-So-Usual Suspects, theater review by Vincent CanbyVincent CanbyVincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
for The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
(18 March 1996) - Getting Away with Murder, script and performance rights from Dramatists Play ServiceDramatists Play ServiceEstablished in 1936 by members of the Dramatists Guild and the Society for Authors' Representatives, Dramatists Play Service, Inc. is a theatrical publishing and licensing house...