Murderous mayhem! Dancing detectives! Beautiful Barmaids— all are promised in “Curtains,” presented by Littleton High School theater students Feb. 24-27. Set in Boston in the late 1950s, the musical spins a tale about the backstage murder of a star with very limited talents, who was playing in “Robbin’ Hood of the Old West.”

Lt. Frank Coiffi, an amateur performer in his off hours played by Josiah Prezkuta, determines to solve the mystery and save the show, and perhaps incidentally find love… Meanwhile the producers and director try to decide what to do to reopen and the detective says no one is to leave the theater. Chaos is certainly a possibility.

The musical send-up of backstage murder mystery plots by the winning team of John Kander and Fred Ebb is based on a book by Rupert Holmes. It premiered on Broadway in 2007, winning a Tony for detective lead David Hyde Pierce (and eight nominations).

Hannah Jones plays the understudy Nikki, who is passed over by songwriter Georgia (Maddy Dockery-Fuhrman) as leading lady replacement, though she captures the detective’s fancy. Jake Petersen is Georgia’s ex, fellow songwriter Aaron Fox. Carmen (Vidya Ravishalon) and Sidney (Scott Egleston) Bernstein are producers, while Christopher Belling (Tandy Larson) is the flamboyant director of this messy show.

All of the above are suspects, as are the stage manager, ambitious dancer Bambi Bernet (Kelli Brewster) and a whole lot of other dancers, singers and assorted characters.

It’s fun to have the opportunity to see an award-winning musical that hasn’t yet been produced in the area. Our south area high schools offer a wonderful assortment of entertaining shows— alas, all within a few weeks— but we urge support for all of them.

LHS is at 199 E. Littleton Blvd. Performances are scheduled on the Mane Stage at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24-26 and at 1 and 6 p.m. on Feb. 27. Tickets cost $10/$8, box office is open one hour before curtain time.