The musical “Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder!” will receive a private industry reading on Oct. 17 at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center. The musical, which features a book and lyrics by Jon Brittain and music and lyrics by Matthew Floyd Jones, will be directed by Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli. The presentation is being produced by Isaac Robert Hurwitz and Seth A. Goldstein of Hugo Six.
Set in Duluth, Minnesota, “Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder” follows two best friends who host Duluth’s least successful true-crime podcast. When their favorite author is murdered, the pair must put their crime-solving prowess to the test.
The company of “Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder” will include Bonnie Milligan, who took home a Tony for her featured turn in 2022’s “Kimberly Akimbo,” Sara Chase, who was recently announced to star in the Broadway production of “Schmigadoon!” (also to be helmed by Gattelli) and Ann Harada, who most recently appeared on Broadway in the 2022 revival of “Into the Woods.” Also slated to appear are Alexander Gemignani, a Tony nominee for 2018’s “Carousel,” in addition to Andrew Chappelle, Natalie Joy Johnson and Jennifer Sánchez, who recently appeared in “& Juliet,” “Lempicka” and “Real Women Have Curves,” respectively.
Britain is known for penning the play “Rotterdam,” which won London’s 2017 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, while Jones is known as one half of the musical comedy double act Frisky and Mannish. Gattelli won the 2012 Tony for his choreography of “Newsies,” and was recently double-Tony-nominated for his work as director and choreographer of 2024’s “Death Becomes Her.” As part of the producing organization Hugo Six, Hurwitz and Goldstein won the 2025 Best Musical Tony Award for “Maybe Happy Ending.”
Originally produced in the United Kingdom by Francesca Moody Productions, Kater Gordon, Wessex Grove and Fiery Angel, “Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder!” played Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh before bowing at the Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End in 2024. The show’s Minnesota setting is new for the American premiere.
321 Theatrical Management will serve as general manager for the presentation.
