“So Who Killed Her Then!”

Colleen Madden as Other Charlotte (left) and Carrie Hitchcock as Charlotte (right) in Murder Girl at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. Photo credit: Michael Brosilow.

A review of Murder Girl

by Benjamin Earnest, age 13

The play Murder Girl is an amazing show for adults and older teens who like to watch comedies but also murder mysteries. With deaths, heartwarming speeches, and MySpace jokes, this show captures your attention with the drama they summon to this stage. I found that this play bonds families by hitting a soft spot in your heart with its storytelling and emotion. Even though the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre performed this show in a studio theater, they still utilized the smaller stage well for the setting of the show. Murder Girl featured large emotions from uniquely talented actors, great set use, and high production quality.

First of all, the set did a great job showing us audience members where the story takes place and what parts of the set would be actively used, with set decoration like beers and bus tubs. KyLee Hennes and Lisa Schlenker (Associate Scenic Designer and Scenic Designer) make the set look just like a normal pub you would see in Wisconsin, with the neon lights and deer heads sticking out of the wall. They also had very detailed signs of all types, ranging from sports to portraits. Not to mention, they even set the scene with Christmas lights that actually work. Another outstanding aspect is that they had a TV that would play voiceovers in between scenes that had a light glaring at the stage.

One of the most important parts of the show was the emotion and sibling drama between Eric and LeeAnn (played by Matt Bowdren and Bree Beelow) when they find out about the death of a former coworker (Emily) who LeeAnn had fired, but Eric thought was actually a good person.  Things get even more tense when they start to bring up the death of their mom (Martie) in a car accident. Later in the play, the characters Charlotte and Other Charlotte portrayed (currently) by Carrie Hitchcock and Colleen Madden start trying to find out who killed Martie and Emily because of all of the deaths. In some scenes, Bree Beelow sent tears to my eyes with all of her emotion in her lines, even shedding tears herself. 

The use of props was a neat idea to keep the characters busy while saying their lines. The props designer, Simone Tegge, did a great job incorporating all these props, with each scene having the smallest details to tell the murder mystery. The use of alcoholic beverages was countless, with copious amounts of different liquor in cabinets or on the main counter. Also to keep the cast on their feet, they were constantly either “washing” dishes, or adjusting the organizational aspects of the bar, like going through papers or ketchup and mustard stands.

Overall, I suspect that Murder Girl requires a mature and older audience, due to its referencing of deaths, indications of blood, and use of coarse language. So go see Murder Girl at the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre running through December 13!