The Rainbow Network, 23rd September 2004

Musicals may be a hit with gay audiences, but so far queer characters have not been a prominent
feature of the genre - until now. Murderous Instincts sets the record straight (or should that be gay?) as
it follows the saga of the Buckingham family in Puerto Rico, promising a �sensational night of mystery
and mayhem set to the seductive sounds of salsa.�

Edwina, the glamorous widow of the late rum tycoon, Bradford Buckingham, awaits the arrival of her
grown-up children in the wake of their father's death. They're all desperate to claim their share of the
multimillion inheritance - but the family reunion soon collapses into turmoil when Edwina disappears.
Has she been murdered and if so, who did it? Almost everyone around her has a secret to hide - and
who is the mysterious stranger hanging round the gates of the estate? Before the mystery is solved,
love, fear and greed bring out everyone's Murderous Instincts.

Among the offspring is Colin, whose own little secret is in nicely contained in the beautiful shape of
latin loveliness, Miguel. Arvid Larsen (who plays Colin) and Jonathan Ellis (Miguel) talked to us about
playing a gay couple in the West End's new salsa fest.

Tell me about your characters in Murderous Instincts.

Arvid: I'm the son of Buckingham and I come back to collect my inheritance, which I think is rightfully
mine. My mother inherits all the money and we have to play up to her to get any money. But Colin's also
got a little secret on the side - his lover, Miguel.

Jonathan: Miguel is a Puerto Rican childhood friend of the family. He is the nicest character in the
musical as he's got no agenda. He's there for love, not for an inheritance. He's funny, flamboyant, quite
outrageous but genuinely nice.

Arvid: Miguel turns up at a weekend get together when the family are all so highly strung because of the inheritance issue. Colin's a bit of a cold character, not really warm. He's very driven and ambitious, and it's not until Miguel steps in that you realise that he's actually quite a nice guy.

Jonathan: Miguel is like a reverse Pygmalion, trying to make Colin be who he wants to be by gentle persuasion.

So he isn't just another villainous gay cliché?

Arvid: No. What attracted me to the role was that Colin wasn't another maniac psychopath. His
relationship with Miguel is a kind, loving one; it's the circumstances that make it impossible.

Jonathan: The author wrote the characters in an incredibly positive way. A lot of the times gay
characters can be angst-ridden depressives, but here they're just as positive as all the others.

Is this your first musical?

Arvid: No, I've done quite a lot: I played Jesus in Jesus Christ Super Star and have been in Joseph in
the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. So it's nice to do something that's not biblical or needs me to
wear a loincloth!

Jonathan: I've been doing theatre musicals for the past eight years but more recently moved into films -
watch out for the character of Jonathan in De-lovely (out on 1 October) , the film adaptation of The
Phantom of the Opera (due out in December) and the next Batman instalment - but I decided I wanted
to come back to the theatre. It had to be a musical because I've never been interested in plays.

I've heard that Murderous Instincts is an �old-fashioned' musical. Are the rumours true?

Arvid: It's quite a stylised show and I suppose it is kind of old-fashioned in style, but it's still a musical
comedy and it's really funny with a strong hint of camp. Obviously we've got the salsa music, which is
huge at the moment, and it's an incredibly strong score. The music is fantastic and people will love it.

Jonathan: It's a proper book musical. Although the salsa is a strong element, it's not just a show with
musical numbers. It's a story with characters and a beginning, middle and end. The music is there to
create a feel.

Gay characters aren't really a staple of musicals are they?

Arvid: Well, you had things like Rent, but the difference here is that the gay element is unexpected - so
it will definitely wake people up a bit during the show. It doesn't go for the shock factor, it's very real. I
think the older section of the audience will like it because of the way it's told. We had a preview in
Norwich and the older audience really warmed to the character of Miguel, except for one guy who
walked out saying that it was a show for freaks, but I think his view wasn't representative

(he laughs).

Jonathan: Miguel gets the audience on his side because people pick up on the fact that he's nice. Two
people have told me that his appearance in the show is rather like when the fasten your seat belt sign
goes off � it's when you can finally relax during the show. So at the end, when they kiss, you get all
these ladies saying, �Isn't it sweet?'

What is it about musicals that seem to have such an enduring appeal?

Jonathan: It offers escapism. The audience is spoon-fed a wonderful evening of entertainment. Some
people say, �Musicals, oh no!' but I think that as an art form they can be brilliant. They are hard work, but
as a performer you get the rewards.

Arvid: I don't know, they're bringing back all the old musicals at the moment, Guys �n' Dolls, The Sound
of Music etc. I think the trend now is tribute musicals or film adaptations like Mary Poppins. With
Murderous Instincts we have a brand new story, new music, new writing, new everything. We haven't
had that for a while now so people will have no idea of what to expect. It's going to be great to see the
reactions.

So how's the salsa dancing going?

Arvid: Luckily my character was never very good at salsa (laughs). He wasn't very happy to take salsa
lessons when he was kid so I'm not supposed to be very good! But we do a bit of character dancing.

Jonathan: Mine's not bad! It's just another form of dance. When you start learning it's like a foreign
language, the inflections are all in the wrong place, but then it becomes something you feel and
suddenly it all comes together.