2014 Tony Winning Musical Hits Chicago Stage
(CBS) -- When asked to describe last year's Tony Award winning best musical "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder," actor Kevin Massey puts it simply.
"It's a gut-busting night of theater and murder," he laughs, with a slightly devious accent.
Massey went to school to be a doctor, instead he landed his first big role in the European tour of "Grease." Soon enough, he was performing on Broadway in "Big River." Now he's headlining the national tour of "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder."
"I think by the time I made my Broadway debut, I thought I'd give this a chance," Massey said. "I love it."
As Montague Navarro, he was the Broadway understudy but now he's the lead in the fast-paced comedy that opened this week in Chicago.
"It was great knowing all the words because there are a lot of words in the dialogue and the songs," Massey said. "Finally got a chance to work with the original creative team that you don't get to do as the replacement. Yeah, make it your own and make it feel like it's my "Monty."
Massey plays opposite John Rapson, who plays nine different roles, all the members of the D'Ysquith family.
"I love playing opposite him," Massey said. "This guy is hilarious. He's just so active and different every night on stage. I'm thrilled that he is in the show with me."
Massey spent time with the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in 2006.
"What's great about Chicago, the audience is a very astute theatre going crowd so they are able to follow a quick show like this, appreciate all the nuances, the big bits of comedy," he said. "This show is so well tailored to a city like this. I'm just ecstatic we get to open here."
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder runs at the Bank of America Theatre through October 11. Its next stop on tour will be Durham, North Carolina.
"I think you come away just delighted," Massey said. "It's a wonderful night of theatre."