FIRST NIGHT | THEATRE

Curtains review — Jason Manford shines in an effervescent production

Manchester Palace
Curtains — a musical wrapped in a murder mystery wrapped in a musical
Curtains — a musical wrapped in a murder mystery wrapped in a musical
THE OTHER RICHARD

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★★★★☆
By the time the murder mystery has finally been solved another puzzle lingers in the air: why isn’t this late-period Kander and Ebb musical better known? It may be froth in comparison with their dissection of Jim Crow prejudice in The Scottsboro Boys, but in its own whimsical way this show — which had its premiere in 2006, two years after Fred Ebb’s death — is every bit as interesting.

Much like Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway, Curtains gives us a mischievous glimpse of stage folk preening and feuding backstage. As a rickety extravaganza — part Robin Hood, part Oklahoma! — limps to its conclusion in 1950s Boston, its untalented and egotistical leading lady is poisoned on stage. Who is