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SUNY Plattsburgh to Present "The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940"


PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (OCT. 15, 2008) - Beginning Nov. 6, the SUNY Plattsburgh theater department will bring "The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940" to upstate New York for the first time. The college's Mainstage production of the suspenseful comedy that first appeared on Broadway in 1987 will take place in Hartman Theatre of the Myers Fine Arts Building, located at 101 Broad Street in Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Performances will run Nov. 6, 7, and 8 at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. Ticket prices are $10 for general admission, $8 for seniors, students and SUNY Plattsburgh faculty and staff, and $2 for SUNY Plattsburgh students. Tickets may be purchased at the door or in advance at the Angell College Center information desk on campus.

"The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940," written by John Bishop, is directed by Karen Hildebrand, an instructor in the theater department. She has previously directed children's theater in Plattsburgh and plays in Pittsburgh, Pa., and New York City. While the play is not a musical, two original songs for the production were composed by Dr. Rick Davies, chair of the SUNY Plattsburgh music department. He has composed music for other plays including "Baby with the Bathwater," as well as Latin jazz and salsa songs for his college music ensemble, Mambo Combo.

A number of SUNY Plattsburgh students are involved in the production. Senior, Tyler Nye, from Keene Valley, N.Y., is the assistant director to Hildebrand. He recently directed "The Belle of Amherst" at the Old Mill Art Studio in Elizabethtown, N.Y. Kurtis Rivers, from Chazy, N.Y., also a senior, is the scenic designer for the play. He recently completed an internship at the Glimmerglass Opera House and is the first student to design the set for a Mainstage production at SUNY Plattsburgh. 

The comedy-murder mystery is about a group of Broadway veterans who gather in a mansion in Chappaqua, N.Y., to rehearse a new show for a potential investor. They soon realize that they actually have been brought together to find the Stage Door Slasher who is killing off Broadway dancers, and that the Slasher might be someone at the mansion. Amidst a snowstorm, secret passages, dead telephones and lights, a new murder and World War II intrigue, the group plows ahead to solve the mystery. 

For more information, please call the SUNY Plattsburgh Performing Arts Event Information Line at 518-564-2283.

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