''Knat Scatt Private Eye'' is a two-act, 1930s-style

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

, which played for an extended run at The Theater Building in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1986, featuring a young

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Michael Scott in the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2011, 2013), and also worked at several points as a producer, executive producer, writer, a ...

. It was based on a one-act musical with the same title which was originally produced earlier that year by

Players Workshop Created in 1971 by Josephine Forsberg, The Players Workshop was Chicago's only official school of improvisation for over a decade. Although it was never officially a part of The Second City cabaret theater, The Players Workshop was often referred ...

for The Children's Theater of The Second City, and performed on The Second City stage in Chicago. Both versions of ''Knat Scatt Private Eye'' were written and directed by

Eric Forsberg Eric Forsberg (born December 16, 1959) is an American writer. He wrote and directed the feature film ''Mega Piranha'', as well as the writer of the feature film ''Snakes on a Train'', one of the first mockbusters produced and released by The A ...

with music and lyrics by Charlie Silliman.

Background

The 1930s-style musical comedy thriller, ''Knat Scatt Private Eye'', was first produced as a musical for young audiences at The Children's Theater Of The Second City in

in 1986. The original production was produced by

, the improv school and production company that trained young performers in sketch comedy for The Second City stage. After attending a performance of ''Knat Scatt Private Eye'' at the Second City, independent producers, Robert and Marion Mortimer commissioned the writers to rework the one-act musical into a two-act Broadway-style production for adults. Composer and lyricist, Charlie Silliman, and script writer, Eric Forsberg rewrote the original children's show to be more appealing to a general audience. The new version of ''Knat Scatt Private Eye'' was remounted in its new form at The Theater Building in Chicago later that year. The second production of ''Knat Scatt Private Eye'' starred Walter Lewis, Mary Weiss, Lori Hammel, Tim Scott Ferguson,

, John Richmond Kenney, Collette Hawley, Marla Cahan, Carla Kendal, Don Neason, Brian-Mark Conover, Travis Lawhon, Phil Martini, and Marilyn Rudnick. Sets were designed by

Martin de Maat Martin de Maat (January 12, 1949 – February 15, 2001) was a teacher and artistic director at The Second City in Chicago. He also taught at Columbia College and Players Workshop. He studied under Viola Spolin. De Maat and Del Close were the tw ...

. The cast of 14 performers play over 40 characters in 2 hours. Carell played the numb-skull henchman of Ben Behemoth, where one of his bits was burping the alphabet (a gag later used in one of his films), Tony the tough, opera-singing Mafioso and Ching, the singing and dancing Chinese tough who shakes down a neighborhood restaurant owner before Knat Scatt beats him up and saves the day. The second production opened to good reviews from the ''

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'' and the ''

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''. The play ran for six months on The Theater Building's main stage.

Members of the ''Knat Scatt Private Eye'' cast move on

A number of members of the production went on to much bigger things. Mary Weiss was one of the creators of ''The Real Live Brady Bunch'' at The

Annoyance Theater The Annoyance Theatre, or Annoyance Productions, is a theatre and associated ensemble based in Chicago, Illinois, that deals mainly in absurd and outrageous humor. Many people who have performed with the ensemble have gone on to become successf ...

, which led to a series of feature film remakes. Marla Cahan went on to become a big casting director in

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and

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went on to become the head of

The Second City Training Center The Second City Training Center was founded in the mid-1980s to facilitate the growing demand for workshops and instruction from the Second City theatre. The Training Centers are located in Chicago and Toronto. Satellite Centers formerly existe ...

.http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-4582991.html Eric Forsberg went on to make feature films.

went on to become a member of

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has b ...

comedy troupe, and later the star of blockbuster movies like ''

40 Year Old Virgin ''The 40-Year-Old Virgin'' is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Judd Apatow (in his feature directorial debut), who produced the film with Clayton Townsend and Shauna Robertson. It features Steve Carell as the titular 40-year-o ...

'', ''

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'', and ''

Little Miss Sunshine ''Little Miss Sunshine'' is a 2006 American tragicomedy road movie, road film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (in their directorial debut) from a screenplay written by Michael Arndt. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of G ...

''.

References

{{Reflist 1986 musicals