Murder Ballad

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Music Theatre of Madison presents another unconventional work, using the entire Brink Lounge as a stage. A mysterious narrator tells a story of love, violence and betrayal, with a twist: The audience doesn't know who the victim or perpetrator will be. Note: Some audience interaction will take place, (and food must be ordered before 7:15 pm "as a safety precaution"). But, says director Meghan Randolph, "boundaries will be respected." ALSO: Thursday (preview) and Saturday, Feb. 28 & March 2, 7:30 pm. Through March 9.

press release: Music Theatre of Madison, a professional theatre company now in its fourteenth season, will present Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash’s Murder Ballad at the Brink Lounge, 701 E. Washington Ave.  A preview performance will be offered on February 28, with performances March 1, 2, 7, 8, and 9 at 7:30 p.m. each night. Tickets are available at www.mtmadison.com/murder-ballad. ​Tickets $20-$27.

Murder Ballad premiered in New York City in 2013 at Manhattan Theatre Club. Taking a cue from that production, MTM will stage the piece unconventionally, with actors using the entire Brink Lounge nightclub space as their stage. “The show is very heightened in emotion and movement,” says MTM Executive Director Meghan Randolph “Staging it this way gives the audience a chance to get even more wrapped up in it.” Randolph will also stage the production, with music direction by Jennifer Hedstrom and choreography by Maureen Janson.

Randolph has wanted MTM to do Murder Ballad for several years and was very excited to fit the show into the 2019 season. A myserious Narrator (Amanda Rodriguez) tells the story, beginning with “Listen and I’ll tell a tale. A tale where good does not prevail. A king, a queen, a club, a knave...one is destined for the grave.” The story is of Sara (Hannah Ripp-Dieter), who once loved the edgy and dangerous Tom (Andrew Lonsdale). She leaves him and meets Michael (Sean Anthony Jackson), a professor of poetry at NYU, who is the perfect husband and eventual father. Fast forward five years. The couple is contented but predictable with a five-year-old daughter. Sara becomes depressed and laments her dream of being a musician. On a whim, she calls Tom, and the two begin an affair. What begins as secretive fun quickly devolves into dangerous obsession, and when Sara calls it off, Tom becomes unhinged. 

“Part of the excitement of this show is you know there’s a murder coming, but you don’t know who does it or who dies,” says Randolph. She adds that the show expands on the centuries-old tradition of the murder ballad, which typically features a narrator removed from the action who tells the story as a warning. “Everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Bruce Springsteen to the Beatles and more have recorded murder ballads,” she says. A Spotify playlist of some of the most famous murder ballads is available on the MTM Murder Ballad web page.

Audiences can expect some minor interaction with the characters and to get up close and personal. Still, boundaries will be respected. “We won’t be grabbing people or sitting on laps or anything like that,” Randolph says. “It’s more about getting the onlookers up close and personal and feeling that heightened emotion.” As a safety precaution, if people want to order food from the Brink, the order must be placed by 7:15 p.m. so that food is out by the time the show starts. “This is for the safety of both actors and waiters.”

Music Theatre of Madison focuses on lesser-known musical theater pieces that have been done elsewhere but haven’t made it to Madison or, in some cases, Wisconsin. The company has recently begun developing new musicals through the Wisconsin New Musicals Cycle. This summer’s Hephaestus was written and developed by Wisconsin artists. A reading of Ten Days In A Madhouse will have a reading in late 2019 and be developed into a full production for 2021. Murder Ballad is made possible by The Wisconsin Arts Board, The Gilkison Foundation, Center Stage Performing Arts, and Electronic Theatre Controls.