Murder Center Stage: The Play

04/20/2026

Looking to stage a funny murder mystery?

CATEGORY/GENRE: Comedy/murder mystery, ideal for full production, weekend fund-raiser, or staged reading
NUMBER OF ACTS: Two, approx. 75 min. run time
FIRST PRODUCED: 2022
SETTING: The stage of your community theater during a production of Sweeney Todd
PRODUCTION: Single set, bare stage/simple staging
CAST SIZE: Twelve adults (male (6), female (4), either (2)), some singing
RENTAL FEE: $150 for three performances, which includes a script and the score/MP3 recording of the Sondheimesque song that opens and closes the production.
RENTAL CONTACT: Bob Abelman, [email protected]

SYNOPSIS: In this laugh-out-loud funny backstage murder mystery, Asher Kaufman – the fallible, affable theater critic for your local newspaper – is in the ensemble of your community theater’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant and bloody musical "Sweeney Todd," so he could write about the experience. But Asher finds himself in the middle of an unscripted, onstage, opening night murder. The police detective leading the investigation is a no-nonsense crime solver but a fish out of water in the world of theater, so she asks Asher and the audience for their assistance in solving the case. They must help find out which of Asher’s quirky castmates is the killer. They all claim innocence, but they could just be acting.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic for The Boston Globe. He was also a professional actor who, as a younger man, appeared on Broadway and so far off-Broadway it was Connecticut. This play is based on the second of his two comedic novellas, published by Gray & Co. Publishing. "All the World’s a Stage Fright" (2020) is a funny, terrifying, semi-autobiographical misadventure of a theater critic who takes the stage in a professional production of Shakespeare’s "As You Like It." It’s sequel, Murder, Center Stage (2021), is a comedic murder mystery set in a community theater production of "Sweeney Todd," which has been turned into a full-length play.

10/23/2025

Break legs Micro-Theatre Off-Broadway

06/02/2025

I'm pleased to announce that "Murder, Center Stage: The Play" is being produced in October 2025 by Mirco-Theatre Off Broadway in Milton, PA.

06/20/2024

Some self-promotion: https://www.jewishrhody.com/stories/jewish-ri-theater-critic-to-be-featured-authorspeaker-at-behind-the-book-event,68302?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0dXze3hPhzgtjWkVmgLotljT_5hQ70W2SOHNU7EBtpbJOTvXz71bXDLk8_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw

PROVIDENCE – On July 16, the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island’s “Behind the Book” series will feature Bob Abelman, author of “All the World’s a Stage …

11/04/2023

Thanks, Ohio Community Theatre Association (OCTA), for running the page-to-stage story about the play "Murder, Center Stage" in your monthly newsletter.

09/22/2023

This not-yet published play -- a comical murder mystery that takes place during a production of Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd" -- is for rent. It is built to serve as an easy to stage fundraiser for community theatres and had its wildly successful world premiere in 2022. Feel free to reach out if you have questions.

03/15/2023

The book made it to Athens (Thanks Rich Maggio). Now lets see if the play can get booked at the Theatre of Dionysus.

01/23/2023

Thinking about "Murder Center Stage" as a fundraiser for your theatre? Be sure to read this quote.

01/01/2023

A small taste of "Murder, Center Stage." ACT 1: SCENE 1

As the audience enters the theatre, the stage and house lights are up. The stage is bare save for a simple high-back chair at center stage with a bloody apron draped over the back. If [YOUR THEATRE] prefers remnants of scenery/a backdrop or a set piece appropriate for a production of "Sweeney Todd," that’s fine but not necessary.

A blood-spattered GWEN MACGREGOR (a theatre critic) is pre-seated in the first-row center of the house. KATE JONES (the stage manager) takes her place in the back of the house, where the stage manager’s booth presumably resides.

When the stage and house lights go to black at the top of Act I and all is dark, ASHER KAUFMAN (an actor and theatre critic) takes a seat in the chair and ANDREA GANZ (the theatre's artistic director) lays on the ground center stage, also covered by a bloody barber’s apron, with her bloody downstage arm and hand exposed.

DETECTIVE, USHER, ERIN, CHRIS, JAKE, LORENZO, CHARLIE and
BRANDON, with flashlights off, take their places scattered around the stage, furthest from the ACTOR who sings the previous line in the opening song. While this is happening on stage, the pre-recorded message [spoken in an up-beat, professional voice] about theater protocol should be played:

PRE-RECORDED MESSAGE: Good evening, and welcome to [YOUR THEATRE] and its annual fund-raiser. At this time, please turn off your cell phone, unwrap your candy, and grab onto your seat. [YOUR THEATRE] stage has become a gruesome, grizzly scene of murder most foul. [pause.] Enjoy the show.

The song that starts Act I should be sung to the modified tune of “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” from the musical "Sweeney Todd." A score for piano accompaniment is included with the script. So is an MP3 with piano and computerized background vocals. With the stage still dark, each of the eight actors involved in the opening song will turn a flashlight on under the chin to eerily light the face at the start of their solo line.

DETECTIVE: Come see the musical "Sweeney Todd."

USHER: Where the lyrics are weird and the music’s odd.

ERIN: Throats are cut as part of the plot.

JAKE: Except for the one that proved to be not.

ALL FOUR: A murder. In "Sweeney Todd." And you get to find out who did it.

[Flashlights off and, in the dark, these four actors move to the barber’s chair at center stage. JAKE (who plays Sweeney in the play), takes his place behind the chair.]

LORENZO: Someone was killed in the barber’s chair.

BRANDON: She was not in the play and should not have been there.

CHRIS: The prop razor was swapped for one that was real.

CHARLIE: The last thing she felt was the touch of cold steel.

ALL FOUR: She’s dead now, in "Sweeney Todd." And you get to find out who did it.

[Flashlights off, as all the actors congregate around the chair.]

DETECTIVE & LORENZO: A freshly made co**se is under the sheet.

USHER & BRANDON: Her lungs take no breath and her heart has no beat.

ERIN & CHRIS: She has quite a story she wished she could tell.

JAKE & CHARLIE: Of why she was killed and who killed her as well.

ALL EIGHT: In "Sweeney." In "Sweeney Todd." And you get to figure who did… it.

[On “it,” the eight actors aim their flashlights at the body in the chair.]

12/18/2022

In the up-coming year, please consider "Murder, Center Stage: The Play" as a fun weekend fundraiser for your theatre. Happy to chat.