She is cast in Oregon Cabaret Theatre’s ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder’

By Jim Flint for Ashland.news

What happens when love and murder collide in a musical comedy? Prepare for a killer combination of charm, wit, and mischief.

“A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder” opens Jan. 24 at Oregon Cabaret Theatre in Ashland and runs through March 30.

Juliana Wheeler, an actor, singer, writer and musician who has done theater both here and in New York City, has been cast as Miss Shingle and a few ensemble characters in the Tony Award-winning tour de force.

“Miss Shingle has a hilarious song right at the top of the show, and I’m so excited to get to lean into the silliness of it,” Wheeler said. “I don’t often get cast as goofy characters.”

The musical was nominated for 10 Tony Awards in 2014 and won four — for best musical, book, direction and costumes. It also won seven Drama Desk awards, four Outer Critics Circle awards and one Drama League Award.

Knocking off heirs

The story begins when low-born Monty Navarro finds out that he’s eighth in line for an earldom in the lofty D’Ysquith family. He figures his chances of outliving his predecessors are slight and sets off down a far more ghoulish path.

Can he knock off his unsuspecting relatives without being caught and become the ninth Earl of Highhurst? And what about love? Well, murder isn’t the only thing on Monty’s mind.

Adding to the fun, OCT will follow the show’s tradition of having one person, Scott Fuss in the Cabaret’s case, play all eight of the relatives Monty must “remove.”

Wheeler, who was born in Los Angeles but moved with her family to Ashland when she was 4, is delighted to “come home” for the gig at OCT.

“I’ve admired the Cabaret for a very long time,” she said. “I’ve been seeing shows at the Cab for something like 25 years. And once I finally decided to move back to Ashland from New York, I knew I wanted to work there.”

In New York, she was part of the Thicket and Thistle team, writing, creating and performing work with her best friends.

Thicket and Thistle is the love of my life,” she said. “Essentially, its six best friends who have talents, interests and senses of humor that align perfectly to produce the kind of theater we love.”

The company writes and produces comedy musicals, usually with a magical or fantastical element.

Suitcase theater

“We’re all actors/musicians,” she said. “We always accompany ourselves on stage. I like to call it ‘suitcase theater.’ We’re very much like a classic wandering troupe of performers. We can pack up our sets and instruments and take the show anywhere.”

One of the roles she played when she returned to Ashland was as Cher in Camelot Theatre’s Spotlight on Sonny and Cher. And she’s already learned that she has been cast in Oregon Cabaret Theatre’s 2025 holiday show, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.”

Wheeler said she is looking forward to “just performing” after her work with Thicket and Thistle. She loved the work, but it could be exhausting. Besides writing and performing, she helped do the marketing, made props, and lugged sets, instruments and costumes on the subway through New York City.

Wheeler, 36, is a graduate of Portland Actors Conservatory, and has accumulated a wealth of diverse theater experience. However, not the least of her bona fides might be that her parents both worked in Hollywood.

“My mother was a stage manager at CBS for several years, and my father was a writer and director,” she said. “They met working on a commercial shoot.” Show business is in her DNA.

Before moving to New York, she spent two years teaching music to children ages 6 to 14 at Ashland’s Siskiyou School.

Now, in between gigs, she works side jobs.

“I’m an actor, so I’ve spent a lot of time working in food service,” she said. “Currently when I’m not doing shows, I work at Bar Juillet on the Ashland Plaza, and I love it.”

Will she continue to work in New York as well?

She would like to, but says the biggest obstacle is financial.

Bicoastal the goal

“Ashland is not a cheap place to fly into, nor is New York a cheap place to live. As much as I love New York, my heart is really in Ashland. Ultimately, I would like to be fully bicoastal, so that’s a big financial and artistic goal for me in the future.”

Her passions outside the theater include games of all kinds, going to concerts and movies, singing karaoke, and spending time with her “true love,” her “demon” chihuahua Georgie.

There is the potential of doing “Midsummer Night’s Dream” in New York again and making a movie with Thicket and Thistle. And she’s working on her first solo writing venture, a musical about Lady Macbeth.

But at her core, there is a special fondness for Ashland and the Rogue Valley theater scene.

She remembers seeing a show 20 years ago at the Cab called “They Came From Way Out There,” written by Jahnna Beecham and her husband, Malcolm Hillgartner.

“I recall the show as being so silly and fun, and thinking I want to do that!” she said.

You can see her doing just that beginning Jan. 24 at the Oregon Cabaret.

For more information about OCT shows and to purchase tickets, go to oregoncabaret.com.

Freelance writer Jim Flint is a retired newspaper publisher and editor. Email him at jimflint.ashland@yahoo.com.