“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 and lyrics by Jon Brittain.
Directed by Jon Brittain & Fabian Aloise.
Produced by Francesca Moody, Kater Gordon, Fiery Angel & Wessex Grove.
Published by Bloomsbury.
Images by Mihaela Bodlovic & Pamela Raith featuring 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.
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 American stage version and television adaptation of Kathy & Stella are both currently 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