"All producers are actors", one of the characters says in this TV movie center around the death of a film actress making her Broadway debut, commiting suicide allegedly on opening night. Bad reviews guaranteed possible instant closure, although that is never confirmed. A year later, playwright Robert Preston, also engaged to the deceased (Lynn Redgrave), gets producer William Daniels and cast members Jeff Goodblum, Patrick Macnee, Madolyn Smith and Lawrence Pressman together on the assumption of a reading and it turns out to be an attempt to trap one of them into a confession of Redgrave's murder.
"Moose Murders" was a one performance flop, and it parallels the play here that opened and closed, even though it wasn't a mystery. Redgrave is seen in various flashbacks, and the viewer gets to know the complexities of the character, both through the romance she's having with Preston and the confrontations she had with the others involved. It's a great ensemble, a fun script, and a premise that would have been a great play as well, even though there had been similar plays and films about murder behind the ghost light going back decades. Still, it's professionally done, and keeps the audience guessing. Ironic to see Daniels (who played a musical John Addams on Broadway) and Preston (a musical Ben Franklin) together.
"Moose Murders" was a one performance flop, and it parallels the play here that opened and closed, even though it wasn't a mystery. Redgrave is seen in various flashbacks, and the viewer gets to know the complexities of the character, both through the romance she's having with Preston and the confrontations she had with the others involved. It's a great ensemble, a fun script, and a premise that would have been a great play as well, even though there had been similar plays and films about murder behind the ghost light going back decades. Still, it's professionally done, and keeps the audience guessing. Ironic to see Daniels (who played a musical John Addams on Broadway) and Preston (a musical Ben Franklin) together.