In “An Old-Fashioned Family Murder,” family dynamics and comedy keep our heads spinning

Let me be among the first to say it: Sally Struthers is a treasure. A veteran of stage (The Odd Couple), screen (Five Easy Pieces), and TV (Gilmore Girls, All in the Family), Struthers is warm, likeable, and always, always funny. Currently, and for only a short time, she brings her charm and humor to New Brunswick’s George Street Playhouse in a new mystery-comedy, An Old-Fashioned Family Murder, written by George Street favorite Joe DiPietro (The Toxic Avenger; I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change).

The play is set in 1943 at a mansion in the northwest, the home of old, ill Colonel Claythorne. Also in the mansion are his two daughters: Dotty, a slightly dowdy mystery buff; and Clarice, a glamorous blonde. Clarice’s boyfriend, Jasper Jamison, is visiting, as is mystery writer Arthur Whittington, and Mrs. Shirley Peck, a member of Dotty’s mystery book club. When Whittington’s drink is poisoned, Detective Paul Peck — the son of a famous police detective and Shirley — arrives on the scene.

Things only get worse when Colonel Claythorne is found with a knife in his chest…and everyone has an alibi for the time of his death.

Director Larry Raben allows Struthers to steal the show as Shirley, a mix of Murder, She Wrote’s Jessica Fletcher and Elspeth’s title character. And who could stop her? She’s an old pro, milking every line, every movement for all its comic worth. Even her facial expressions while she’s trying to puzzle out how the crime was committed and who did it are funny.

Not far behind her in the comedy department are James Taylor Odom as her son Paul, desperately floundering while trying to emulate his father’s skill in detection; Tony Carlin as the pompous Arthur Whittington, whose condescension is matched only by his unwarranted self-esteem; and Michael Evan Williams’ Jasper, whose physical assets don’t quite make up for his lack of brain. Tony Award nominee Caitlin Kinnunen (The Prom) creates a sweetly naive Dotty, in contrast to Alison Scagliotti’s sleek sophisticate Clarice.

Scenic designer Robert Kovach fills the Arthur Laurents Theatre stage with the expansive living room of the Claythorne mansion. Lighting designer José Santiago and sound designers Roger Stoddard and Christopher J. Bailey bring life to the house, especially when they create the kind of dark and stormy night by which murder is appropriate. Molly Walz’ costumes evoke the styles and glamour of the early 1940’s, especially for the women in the cast.

An Old-Fashioned Family Murder may not be a perfect comedy, but it does have a sufficiently convoluted murder plot to please many mystery fans, and enough laughs to keep the show buoyant. Sally Struthers’ performance is a revelation, a joyous thing to behold. If for no other reason than seeing Ms. Struthers, I strongly recommend you make the trip back to 1943 and settle yourself in with An Old-Fashioned Family Murder!

An Old-Fashioned Family Murder is presented by the George Street Playhouse in the Arthur Laurents Theatre at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center through Nov. 2, 2025. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to georgestreetplayhouse.org.