Based on the original book and concept of the same name by Peter Stone, the musical is a send-up of backstage murder mystery plots, set in 1959 Boston, Massachusetts, and follows the fallout when Jessica Cranshaw, the supremely untalented star of Robbin' Hood of the Old West is murdered during her opening night curtain call.
The show opened on Broadway to mixed reviews, though several critics praised the libretto and the character of Lieutenant Cioffi, who critic Ben Brantley called "the best damn musical theatre character since Mama Rose in Gypsy, and the best role of David Hyde Pierce's career."
The production, directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Rob Ashford, opened on Broadway on March 22, 2007, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.
The cast included David Hyde Pierce, Debra Monk, Karen Ziemba, Edward Hibbert, Jason Danieley, Noah Racey, Jill Paice, Megan Sikora, Michael X. Martin, Michael McCormick, and John Bolton reprising the roles they played in Los Angeles, as well as new cast member Ernie Sabella.
[3] The musical received mixed reviews on Broadway, with Ben Brantley writing in The New York Times: "David Hyde Pierce...steps into full-fledged Broadway stardom with his performance here...Perhaps this switching of creative horses accounts for the enervation that seems to underlie the lavish expenditure of energy by a top-of-the line cast that includes Debra Monk, Karen Ziemba and Jason Danieley.
"[4] Clive Barnes wrote in the New York Post: "Part of the trouble was director Scott Ellis' failure to italicize sufficiently the inside comedy, but there probably was not much he could do.
The choreography by Rob Ashford was unnoticeable, the scenery by Anna Louizos uninterestingly ugly, while William Ivey Long unwisely saved his best and funniest costumes for the curtain calls.
Later that night, Carmen Bernstein, the show's hard-bitten co-producer, divorced songwriting team Aaron Fox and Georgia Hendricks, and the show's financial backer, Oscar Shapiro, read the reviews, most of which are terrible, especially the Boston Globe's, which is the review they needed to make it to Broadway.
Niki, the actress who plays Miss Nancy, steps forward and says she would feel terrible taking over, but Belling goes on to say that he is actually casting Georgia as Madame Marian.
However, since Jessica was poisoned in the last ten minutes of the show and never left the stage thereafter, Cioffi believes that she must have been murdered by a member of the company, and he enforces a lockdown on the building and will not let anyone leave.
The lieutenant is struck by Niki's charm and confides in her about his investigation and his lonely life, as he feels as if he's married to his job ("Coffee Shop Nights").
Cioffi returns from the coroner's office and tells everyone that Sidney was knocked out before being tied to the rope, so everyone is still a suspect, but his focus is more on whether the show will be ready for its re-opening.
Cioffi gathers Aaron, Georgia, and Bobby and tells them that Sidney had no blackmail material on them, and yet they were still content working for such low pay.
Niki laments how love makes people feel bad, but Cioffi begins flirting with her and reminisces about the first time he saw her on stage, leading them into an elaborate fantasy sequence, in which they daydream about being a couple in a musical ("A Tough Act to Follow").
Cioffi announces over the theatre PA system that he and Niki are engaged, before asking the cast to re-stage the bows, when Jessica was murdered (“Wide Open Spaces”(reprise)).
Cioffi figures out that the murderer hid a pellet gun with a cyanide capsule inside a bouquet, disguised as an usher, and killed Jessica.
Cioffi's colleague, Detective O'Farrell, takes him into custody and the cast of the production is relieved that the murder is finally solved.
Cioffi agrees to wait until after the show's Broadway opening to turn her in, and tells her that, with the right lawyer, she could easily be acquitted of what is surely justifiable homicide.
Cioffi proposes to Niki during the show's final scene, to which she accepts, and the stage becomes a celebration ("A Tough Act to Follow (Reprise)").
[6][7] The New England premiere of Curtains opened August 13, 2010, for five shows only, at the Haskell Opera House in Derby Line, Vermont/Stanstead, Quebec.
Produced and directed by Sofia Ahlin Schwanbohm, the cast featured Fredrik Wahlgren (Lt. Frank Cioffi), Clara Strauch (Carmen Bernstein), Ingrid Zerpe as (Georgia Hendricks), and Vilhelm Blomgren as (Aaron Fox).
[3] The production received positive reviews with Paul Vale from the Stage writing, "this is a traditional musical comedy that despite some minor flaws, throws out plenty of laugh out loud one-liners and some great tunes" [4] The Scottish Premiere was performed by the Southern Light Opera Company in the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh on 15 to 19 May 2012.
The Czech premiere was at Musical theatre Karlin (Hudební divadlo Karlín) on September 22, 2011, opening to mostly positive reviews.
The creative team included director Antonín Procházka, translator Adam Novák, designers Michalea Hořejší and Aleš Valášek and choreographer Pavel Strouhal.
The cast included Simon Gleeson as Frank Cioffi, Alinta Chidzey as Niki Harris, Colin Lane as Christopher Belling, Lucy Maunder and Alex Rathgeber as Georgia Hendricks and Aaron Fox, and John Wood as Sidney Bernstein.
[12][13] A UK tour began at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley in October 2019 starring Jason Manford as Frank Cioffi, Carley Stenson as Georgia Hendricks, Ore Oduba (alternating venues with Andy Coxon) as Aaron Fox and Rebecca Lock as Carmen Bernstein and directed by Paul Foster.
[14] The production transferred to the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End featuring the touring cast (with the exception of Oduba being replaced by Coxon as Aaron Fox, and Cory English as Oscar Shapiro from December 13 to 22) from December 13, 2019, until January 13, 2020, before resuming the UK tour until spring 2020.