#death rattle dazzle

[witchofthemidlands]

for this deranged musical theatre & omitb fan, please present the full version in streamable form, cowards, please 🥹 (& pickwit triplets did it (both the full version & the charles haden savage breakdown remix)

[dragonsareawesome123]

Official Playbill for Death Rattle

[gennydreams]

Raise of hands, who here wishes Death Rattle: Dazzle was a real stage production? I’ve been listening to the songs nonstop, and I wish I could know the full plot

[duelbraids]

Death Rattle Dazzle Plot EXPLAINED (not clickbait)

Other title ideas: So None of the Picwick Triplets Did It?, Theatre Professional Unravels the Plot of In-Universe Musical for No Reason.

This is a list of my thoughts about the plot of the in universe musical Death Rattle Dazzle from Hulu's Only Murders in the Building. This will contain no spoilers for the plot of the show proper, or the mystery, but will spoil all the songs written and theorize about their placement in an actual, two act musical. It'll also reference a few of the gags from the final episode, and this metafiction article by Playbill, which was done in collaboration with OMITB. Maxine's in universe review is bloody funny, and it contains a Playbill, which reveals some plot details about the original play. This practically is fan fiction, I will admit, but its fun, damn it, and I did my research!

Death Rattle Dazzle has the distinction of being the adaption of what is called a "classic play" by Oliver (who, despite his kookiness, is clearly well versed in theatre.) Maxine's review says that "Anyone with more culture than a vanilla yogurt has probably encountered the play in some form—if not by starring in it at the local elementary school, then in the form of a spoof on television, in film, or by Cate Blanchett opening the Tonys in 2012." This is hilarious, basically making the play a straight play version of Little Shop of Horrors. Everyone's done it, especially regional or amateur companies.*

*By amateur, I do not mean bad or unpolished. Many local, amateur companies put on fantastic plays. I simply mean the definition of amateur used in theatre: unpaid.

To me, that means Death Rattle must be old enough to be in the public domain, or was willed to be public domain after the playwright's death, et cetera. We also meet the original director of the play in 3.10, though all we know is that his version was "Weirder." This adaptation element mostly comes up in the aesthetic changes from straight play to musical, because we do not see much of the original play. However it's clear to me that Oliver knows his chops, and knows how to reference original material (keeping 'Creature of the Night' as Act One's opener to replace the opening monologue, for instance.)

Now, I want to write a mock up of the plot, and then justify my decisions. I also had the idea to name random songs to fill out a 12 song tracklist - pretty short for a 2 Act Play, but I'm just doing this part for fun. Maybe they're the songs on the cast album. Made up songs are going to marked in Red.

Players The Detective The Nanny The Constable The Godmother The Father The Boatman The Pickwick Triplets Chorus

Act One

The Detective introduces the audience to the situation at hand - a murder that is driving him to madness. (Creature of the Night) The plot follows the Detective as he and the Constable begin to try and unravel the crime. The Constable admits he has had trouble keeping law and order, thus calling in the Detective. (Private Dick) The Chorus has a song about their own suspicions, including wondering about the parentage of the children (Is It You?) The investigative duo, along with the Chorus, lay out the details of the crime, woman murdered, only her triplets in the room, found tossed from the cliff with a rattle down her throat. (Death Rattle, DAZZLE!) We see more into the mental state of the Detective, who clearly is manic about this case. They go to interview The Godmother, who tells them about her final day with her best friend, casting blame on the "Children's Father," then the Nanny (Last Light / Only Duty) This leads into the Nanny at the top of the lighthouse, closing out the act as she expresses her devotion to the triplets. (Look for the Light)

Act Two

The Chorus brings us back in, summarizing the events of Act One using crab mating as a metaphor (Entr'acte / Nova Scotia Nightfall) The Father is questioned by the Detective, who reveals he knows the children are not his own, because he had been sleeping with the Godmother, not his own wife. However, he could not have killed her, as he was at his post all night, and his wife was inside. (Private Dick Reprise) The Boatman, who had been lurking since the beginning, is finally cornered by the Constable, and reveals that he not only ferried someone over the night of the murder, but couldn't see their face. (Deadest Night) Then, the Boatman tells the Constable that he saw no one enter or leave the lighthouse, which is where the Mother was killed. This leads to the Constable realizing he may have to charge one of the Pickwick Triplets to restore order to his island. He locks himself in the lighthouse, and tries to solve the crime. (Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?) As the Detective enters with a copied key, the Constable realizes it must be he who murdered the Mother. The Detective admits this, though doesn't reveal why. (Confrontation, Dear Constable) The Nanny finds the Constable dead against the rocks, and challenges the Detective. He reveals that he is the father of the children, as well as confessing his guilt. The Nanny pushes him to his death, in order to protect herself. (For The Sake of a Child)

Okay, Justification Time.

The original play is described as "Agatha Christie" like, so casting suspicion on every character is basically a must. The actual placement of songs is based on how they were shown in the show, along with my own knowledge of theatre. Creature of the Night is a quintessential opening number: we start with our main character, before introducing every major character as they enter the stage. Look for the Light is a clear reference to Memory. A lullaby-like song to end the first act, the emotional core of the musical. Thus, similar to Cats, I structured the show to be mostly ensemble, framed by the two investigators. Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It? made me immediately think of plot twist patter songs ( ala Your Fault ) that come in at the 11th hour. And, of course, ending on that spoken For the Sake of a Child is the right level of dramatic.

While some of the plot in between the lines is inferred from the show, a lot of it comes from that metafiction article I mentioned - there's a Playbill with descriptions of the characters, and dear god, did it give me a goldmine of ideas. Seriously, I highly recommend that article. Marketing that's actually fun and engages the viewer in the show? Wow, who could've thunk it.

My original mock up included more people dying, but decided to cut that, since we have no evidence for that aside from the Nanny referring to the Detective "Serial Killing" which could have been about him killing the Constable, since we know he dies. If you want to know, they would've been: The Godmother murdered at the end of Act One, then the Father murdered in Private Dick Reprise, though not revealed until Confrontation, Dear Constable. BTW, that song is basically the only one with any basis in the show's script, as we hear a confrontation between the Detective and the Constable as cross talk near the end of 3.10.

Some scattered thoughts:

Both Private Dick and Only Duty are songs that I expect would have Ironic Echoes later in the show. Private Dick originally introducing the charming Detective in a mostly positive light, and then in the second act, used to insinuate that the Father knows the Detective used his, uh, private dick elsewhere. Only Duty, meanwhile, would be used by the Godmother to say that a Nanny's love is only because it's her paid duty, as opposed to the Mother or Godmother, and of course, later we have A nanny's only duty is to the children.

Finally, I had to include a reference that crab people breeding bit they couldn't drop in the show, lol. In my head it's a dream ballet during the entr'acte, each of the crabs wearing the character's they represent headpiece, and of course, three eggs.

EDIT: I can't believe I didn't mention this, but I believe the motive of the Detective to be a simple matter of custody; he wants the triplets, and got into a fight with the Mother when he tried to take them, leading to him murdering her. Then, he returns to the island when called by the Constable, and plans to either kill everyone in his way of getting the triplets, or to accuse someone other than him, to get out of trouble.

[norvicfiddler]

Creatures of the Night - Death Rattle Dazzle - Oliver Putnam

Only Murders in the Building Season 3

[kharjo-san]

Evidence:

Penelope in pink sure is making quite a stink, is she trying to throw me off the scent? Though she bats her little eyes is she a killer in disguise, With a diaper full of criminal intent?

Preening Patrick is pernicious with an appetite so vicious, he would bite the hand that feeds him with a sneer. But could that rotten tot be behind this evil plot, Baby-stepping towards a murderous career?

Pouty little Paco's looking coy but he's a bad, bad boy, Could Paco's passion prove apocalyptic? With his paci and his rattle did this pisher go to battle, Proving he's the perp amidst this Pickwick triptych?

~ Please reblog for exposure!

[cytryndor]

I love when Marty Short plays the villain. And if he’s singing?? We’re all blessed. That being said, I love his and Meryl’s For the Sake of a Child. I want more of that voice, that passion in Oliver Putnam. And that being said, can anyone write a fanfiction with Oliver being, well, like that?? I’d pay you with my OMITB like scenes 🙏✨

[sidleyparkhermit]

Still thinking about Oliver’s newly revealed songwriting skills. Last week’s song was written in the real world by Sara Bareilles of Waitress fame. This week’s was by Marc Shaiman, who’s worked with Bette Midler, won a Tony for Hairspray, and written several Oscar-nominated songs including “Blame Canada” from South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut.

This is a highly marketable skill that Oliver has been sitting on. I’m still trying to come up with some kind of Watsonian explanation for why he has not been using it to pay his bills. Is he really too proud to write a TV jingle? Is someone in the entertainment industry blackballing him? Did Roberta get all his songwriting proceeds in the divorce somehow?

[littleblackraincloudofcourse]

Anyone else still have this stuck in their head or are you normal

[witchofthemidlands]

I really, really love that there are two versions of ‘For the Sake of a Child’ it would have been so easy to make just Oliver's version but I love that they released a version for Ben too! The cinematography of the actual scene as well is just incredible. Through Cliff's guilt, it allows for “Ben” to take to the stage as well even though he's gone & never got the chance & I love how how they swap Ben & Oliver around Loretta, it is so aesthetically pleasing to watch 🤩

[bored-boring-and-tired]

petition for death rattle dazzle to actually be a musical because you can't just present me with a murder musical where BABIES are murderers and expect me to be perfectly content with not knowing any of the plot

[lemongrad]

Ok but this is unironically a banger though

[gennydreams]

Cast of characters from death rattle’s playbill

Like their official playbill from playbill.com

[dutchessofcaladan]

Listen, I know he was a dick (and a massive one at that) but I'm really craving some Ben Glenroy x Reader rn

[bakerstreethound]

Which of the Pickwick triplets did it?

[soft-and-exhausted]

thinking too much about the underlying themes in death rattle dazzle and how they collate with Oliver Putnams own experiences with paternity and murder, [...]