“This is impossible! We’ve got no motives. No suspects. We don’t know anything. Who knew solving a murder would be so hard?”
A comedy musical about two true crime podcasters thrust into a thrilling whodunnit of their own.
Music, lyrics, arrangements and original musical direction by MFJ.
Book, lyrics and direction by Jon Brittain.
The original one-act version of Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder! opened at the Paines Plough Roundabout at Summerhall for an award-winning sell-out run during the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe.
An expanded version returned to Edinburgh the following year, and the full two-act show premièred at Bristol (Old Vic) and Manchester (HOME) in the autumn of 2023.
This production then transferred to the West End, playing at the Ambassadors Theatre for a 16-week run in May 2024.
An industry reading of a reimagined American version of Kathy & Stella was presented in New York (Manhattan Movement & Arts Center) in October 2025, and a television adaptation of the original show is also in development.
“Terrific… painfully funny”
Arts Desk ★★★★★
“I defy you not to fall in love with it”
The i ★★★★★
“Brilliantly joyful”
Evening Standard ★★★★
“Catchy songs and witty, perceptive lines”
Financial Times ★★★★
“Lightning music and lyrics… packed with artistry”
The Guardian ★★★★
“Fast-paced, clever, funny and bang up to date”
The Scotsman ★★★★
“Not only packed with super songs but fabulously underscored too… The style, speed and overall playfulness is irresistible”
Musical Theatre Review
“One of the big success stories at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, a bona fide hit during a tricky year when the fringe was still in recovery mode… a big, warm-hearted show at a time when people needed just that”
The Stage
“Something good is happening when a young group, outside the established and celebrated mainstream, get together and make a show on the fringes, daring to be different, facing the perils of launching it down the slipway to fill the stalls with surprised glee”
Libby Purves, Theatrecat
☆ Winner, Musical Theatre Review Award for Best Musical
☆ Winner, Theatre Weekly Award for Best Musical
☆ Pick of the Fringe MusicalTalk
☆ Best Shows of the Edinburgh Fringe The Stage
UK production:
Produced by Francesca Moody with Kater Gordon, Fiery Angel & Wessex Grove. Co-directed & choreographed by Fabian Aloise. Orchestrations & musical supervision by Charlie Ingles. Musical direction, supervision, associates & assistants: Caitlin Morgan, Andrew Hilton, Catherine Benson, Tom Mitchell, Inga Davis-Rutter. Associate direction by Charlie Martin. Dramaturgy by Gillian Greer. Set by Cecilia Carey. Lighting by Peter Small with Bethany Gupwell. Sound design by Tingying Dong & Dan Samson. Sound operation: Harvey Saunders Woolley, Karen Szameit, Ari Levy, Kieran Lucas, Paul Harfield. Costume, hair & makeup: Jade Berg, Isobel Pellow, Tevae Humphrey, Cecilia Carey. Props by Charlotte King. Stage management: Caoimhe Regan, Michael Dennis, David Purdie-Smith, Phoebe Smyth, Titch Gosling, Rosie Bannister, Vikki Chandler. Production management: Titch Gosling, Ed Borgnis. General management by Francesca Moody Productions & Richard Jones for Fiery Angel, assisted by Riona Kelly. Casting by Annelie Powell, assisted by Alice Walters. Performers: Bronté Barbé, Rebekah Hinds, Imelda Warren-Green, Elliot Broadfoot, Hannah-Jane Fox, Jodie Jacobs, TJ Lloyd, Ben Redfern, Elliotte Williams-N’Dure, Jacob Kohli, Sarah Pearson, Jennifer Caldwell, Chelsea Hall, Sorelle Marsh. Musicians: Laura Browne, Philip Williams.
US presentation:
Directed by Christopher Gattelli. Produced by Seth A. Goldstein & Isaac Robert Hurwitz for Hugo Six. Musical direction by Benedict Braxton-Smith & Adam Beskind with Henry Roseman. Associate direction by Deanna Weiner. Management by Jovan Hannah & Emily Witham for 321 Theatrical Management. Performed by Sara Chase, Bonnie Milligan, Andrew Chappelle, Alexander Gemignani, Ann Harada, Natalie Joy Johnson & Jennifer Sánchez.
Playtext published by Bloomsbury.
Images by Mihaela Bodlovic & Pamela Raith.