Murder Hornets: A New Musical For 2020
Synopsis
Synopsis: A pop-crossover band of French hornists are touring with their backup dancers, The Hornettes. End of scene 2, their producer is murdered. Everyone has a motive. At the end of Act 1 the investigation leads the ensemble to a secret government lab where a series of comic mishaps mutate them all into enormous hornets. The search for the cure and the search for the murderer become intertwined in MURDER HORNETS: A NEW MUSICAL FOR 2020.
This is a fundraiser for musicians affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Go to: charity.gofundme.com/murderhornets to donate.
Casting / Character Outline
Kyle Copeland: The handsome-but-awkward lead player of The Horn Fifths. While he initially comes across as a common man, he is remarkably talented, and his heart is a true rodeo. At age 12, he was a flash-in-the-pan child celebrity when his multi-track-ed horn recording of the Beatles’ “Honey Pie” went viral. He secretly longs for Tinsley Tisdale, but worries she’s out of his range. But, is Kyle really as quiet and shy as he seems? Or, as critic wrote of him during his youth, “If a gifted young man can write a cover like this at age 12, within ten years he will be ready to commit murder!"
Mickey MacDougal: The wise cracking second chair of The Horn Fifths. He has a love interest with Angela Argyle, but who has recently caught the eye of the show’s manager, Bud Blandelberg. Could this love triangle have motivated Mickey to murder? Is his sting as poisonous as his temper? Will his horn net his sweetheart?”
Angela Argyle: The brassy blonde high-kicker of the Hornettes. Born is the tiny town of Honey Hollow, Montana, she moved to New York City to make a name for herself in the contemporary dance circuit, but soon got swept up in the seedy underground French-horn crossover scene of the late 2000s. But, even after her metamorphosis from small-town nymph to big-city queen, she can’t shake the nagging feeling that she’s missing something in her life. But is that certain thing she’s missing… MURDER?
Tinsley Tisdale: The waspy heiress of the “Insanter Insecticide” fortune. While she put her role as a socialite behind her to join the Hornettes, she still moves through the world with oblivious privilege and sheltered naiveté. However, upon learning that she has an older identical twin (who has just woken up from the coma she’s been in for the last 15 years), she realizes her inheritance is threatened, a fact that the Hornette’s manager Bud Blandelberg learns about through a combination of comic coincidences and eavesdropping. Could Tinsley have silenced Bud to keep her fortune to herself? Do Tinseley’s gold-plated mandibles deliver gold-plated venom?
Chad Chadsworth: The smug and self-important third chair of the Horn Fifths. His classic all-American boyish charms are but a superficial head to an egocentric and conniving thorax. Believing that his role in the Horn Fifths is underappreciated and beneath his talents, he connives to leverage his connections within the group to start a rival ensemble called “The Double Horns.” Through a combination of comic coincidences and eavesdropping, the Fifths’s manager Bud Blandelberg finds out about Chad’s plan. While attempting to stymie Chad’s machinations, Bud is murdered. However, unknown to anyone but Chad, Bud was actually his biological father, with Chad having been separated from his birth parents at the hospital due to an unfortunate spelling error. Could Chad’s ambitions have paved a path for patricide?
Detective Pipi Laquette: A spunky new recruit to the elite homicide task force “The Yellow Jackets.” Having grown up in the south of France, her accent is unmistakable, as is her draw to sweets and outdoor picnic cuisine. Requires: coloratura soprano with high C.
Dr. Ferrah Moandelhive: The lead researcher at the local secret insect experimental laboratory. She is the paradigm of a strong woman. She nearly crack’s the murder mystery when her research misfires and turns the ensemble into large hornets. Played by contralto or as a drag role.