The Reader review is dated Friday, November 5, 1982. It concerns a new show by Kingsley Day and Philip LaZebnik called Summer Stock Murder. The heading reads “A Standard Is Born,” and the critic (me) declares that Day and LaZebnik have written “a fast, funny, and very accessible musical comedy murder mystery, with…[e]verything it needs to get done and done and done.” Well, so far my grand box-office prediction hasn’t panned out. But if the work hasn’t been done and done and done over the last 20 years, at least it’s been done. Royalties have been earned. And I feel confident in asserting that a good time has been had by all–because it’s hard to imagine a bad time associated with this supremely amiable and clever show, featuring multiple genre parodies and a trick ending. Now it’s possible for a good time to be had by you. In honor of the musical’s 20th anniversary–and in memory of Carol Storm, an original cast member who died in 1991 of breast cancer–the show will be performed this week in a concert version benefiting Gilda’s Club Chicago. The cast of Summer Stock Murder veterans will be led by the show’s original star, Sharon Carlson, who can still reach D-flat after all these years. Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont, 773-327-5252. Monday, October 14, 7:30 PM. $30.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Jennifer Girard.