Can you solve the mystery at Magpie Manor? Don the fringes and feathers, dust off the spy glass and join the flapper girls and their family, Inspector Spectre and a whole host of famous guests in this roaring 20s’ thriller! This brilliant Downton-meets-Poirot musical production brings comedy, song, mystery and 1920s' dance routines together in one scintillating performance – it’s no mystery it’s a bestseller! Take one dilapidated manor house, a whole host of famous guests, a gripping auction and one big mystery and you’ve got yourself a spectacular production!
An Annual Performance Licence is required to perform this title. For more information, please click here.
WHY YOU’LL LOVE IT
It’s intriguing, it’s engaging and it’s five-star entertaining!
About Mystery At Magpie Manor
Get to know this mysterious, marvellous musical – it’s one you won’t want to miss!
THE SONGS
These 1920s-inspired songs are FULL of joy ‘n’ razzmatazz! With a full-on Charleston and rag to a suspicious Who Dunnit? and a celebratory ‘solved it!’ number, these songs will have you clicking, clapping and singing all the way home! With plenty of optional solos and fabulous group singing, there’s a song here for everyone to enjoy!
THE STORY
Set in the 1920s and steeped in legend and intrigue, Magpie Manor is in a great state of disrepair and Lord and Lady Pica must take drastic action to save their crumbling manor house. The clan is gathered and together with Mr Fortune the bank manager and his bumbling assistants, they come up with a plan to sell off the family silver. But as the rich and famous guests arrive for the auction ball, strange things are occurring and when the family heirloom is unveiled, it has disappeared! Join the inspector and get straight on the case! Will the thief be caught and can Magpie Manor be rescued from impending disaster?
THE CHARACTERS
This musical has such a wealth of interesting, quirky and exciting characters, there’s truly something for everyone to enjoy. From the insightful Inspector Spectre to Lord and Lady Pica and their flapper daughters (and everyone in between), these vibrant characters are ones you’ll be excited to introduce your class to!
THE EXTRAS
We’ve provided choreography videos, like ‘How To Charleston’, and all the usual support we provide with staging, props, rehearsal and costume suggestions and tips!
THE VERDICT
‘This is an absolute gem of a production. I put it on with a mixed year 4/5/6 class, and we all loved every minute of it, as did our audience.’
‘It is funny, fast-paced, full of historical details and with great music and dance opportunities too. Everything you need to help the end of term go with a swing and a bang!’
‘If you are looking to entertain with plenty of razzmatazz and humour then this show is the one to get.’
An editable script is available for this product when you purchase a Premium package that includes an eSongbook.
No. of speaking parts: 32.
No. of non-speaking parts: 16.
Whole school: Cast size can easily be increased to include more non-speaking tradesmen, guests and magpies.
Least no. of performers: Could be done with as few as 34, which would involve cutting some of the guests (Noel Coward, Herbert Austin) and their spouses. Trixie and Minty’s parts could be cut and allocated to other flapper girls. Den Bones and Phil Pie could be cut from the script and magpies could double up as guests reducing the cast by a total of 14.
(Total length of music: 14 minutes approx)
- Honey Devine
- Do As You're Told!
- Keep A Beady Eye
- The Charleston
- Who Dunnit?
- The Magpie Rag
- We've Solved The Mystery
Instrumental Scores
Licence Information
Annual Performance Licence Information - What You Need To Know
- A current Annual Performance Licence is required to perform a musical or nativity to an audience (other than to pupils & staff), including an online audience, and irrespective of whether admission charges are made.
- It is more cost effective to purchase an Annual Performance Licence as part of a complete product pack.
- An Annual Performance Licence covers any number of performances of a particular musical or nativity within 12 months of the date of ordering. A separate Annual Performance Licence is required for each product title.
- To renew your Annual Peformance Licence, log into your account if you have one and go to your My Licences section.
Find out more about what your Annual Performance Licence will legally cover you to do.
All of our eSongbooks come with a Single User Licence
- This means you can install our Words on Screen™ software onto ONE computer only, or it can be streamed by a single user.
- If you would like to install this software onto your network server and/or two or more computers, or allow multiple users to stream Words on Screen™ songs, this will be covered by your Annual Performance Licence which includes extended digital rights. For more information, click here.
The following items are available for this product:
Teacher's Book
- Character list
- Script with staging directions
- Suggestions for rehearsing, staging, props and costumes (see below)
- Choreography suggestions for The Charleston and Magpie Dance
- Music score and song lyric sheets for 8 songs (Piano music score, melody and chords)
- Licence and copyright details
Audio CD
- Vocal tracks sung by children
- Professional backing tracks
- Overture and Magpie Dance music
Words on Screen™ eSongbook
- An online Words on Screen™ product to stream or download
- Extractable MP3s, printable lyrics, scores, scripts*, & additional resources
- Words on Screen™ versions of songs so that you can display song lyrics on any whiteboard, computer screen, television or interactive touchscreen. The lyrics synchronize with the music as it plays making them easy to teach and easy to learn
- Flexibility to create an expandable library of Words on Screen™ song collections, nativities and musicals in your Out of the Ark online account
- Enhanced operation features including ‘double-click’ to hear and teach a single line
- Words on Screen™ user guide
- Single-User licence (Please note a Performance Licence is still required to perform this musical)
- Licence & copyright details
*For your convenience, we have provided an editable script in Word format for this nativity or musical. The purpose of the editable script is to allow you to adjust the allocation of speaking parts for smaller or larger cast sizes and/or to make minor changes to the text for staging purposes.
Annual Performance Licence
An Annual Performance Licence covers any number of performances of a particular musical or nativity within 12 months of the date of ordering. A separate Annual Performance Licence is required for each product title.
Find out more about what your Annual Performance Licence will legally cover you to do.
Rehearsal CDs
- Vocal tracks sung by children
- Professional backing tracks
- Overture and Magpie Dance music
- Available in packs of 5, 10 or 20
Fantastic fun for everyone
This is an absolute gem of a production. I put it on with a mixed year 4/5/6 class, and we all loved every minute of it, as did our audience. The songs were fun and catchy, and the stage directions were excellent, and of course we all loved the terrible puns! Lots of opportunities for soloists and cameo roles, and my only criticism would be that we would have liked more verses in some of the songs! Well done Julie Stanley and Mary Green - great writing.
Great
I was Ethel the maid in the play and I found it amazing to do with my fellow classmates.All the songs are catchy and easy to learn but when people where doing solos they didn’t really like to sing.Overall it was a great performance.
AMAZING
this play is one of the best things to do with year 6....i was the cook....great songs ..over all it was just fabulous.. i definitely recommend it to other classes and teachers!!!
AMAZING
this play is one of the best things to do with year 6....i was the cook....great songs ..over all it was just fabulous.. i definitely recommend it to other classes and teachers!!!
Funny, well written and fun to perform.
I play Agatha Christie in my leavers play and I look forwards to all the rehearsals. The songs are catchy and easy to learn and I have loads of fun acting in it. I hope many other teachers choose this production to be the one their class performs to send them off into their high schools as their final glorious memories.
Great fun and fantastic music!
This was a fun play to put together with excellent upbeat music.
Fantastic show!
This is a fantastic show for year 6 to perform. It is funny, fast-paced, full of historical details and with great music and dance opportunities too. Everything you need to help the end of term go with a swing and a bang!
Amazing!
My school performed this as a year 6 production and it was amazing! I was the inspector
Hitting the high notes
"Mystery At Magpie Manor is a 60-minute musical gem just begging to be used as an end-of-term production. If you are looking to entertain with plenty of razzmatazz and humour then this show is the one to get." To read the complete review, visit http://www.teachprimary.com/tried_and_tested/view/out-of-the-ark-music1
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