MONK: MR. MONK GOES TO THE THEATER (TV)
Summary
One in this series about Sherlockian detective Adrian Monk, a man who develops an obsessive-compulsive disorder after his wife's murder. Monk and Sharona are out seeing an off-Broadway play starring Sharona’s sister Gail. In the play her character stabs another character, but it appears that she stabs him with an actual knife; a doctor arrives onstage to check him and declares Hal, the actor, dead. Gail is held for questioning by the police, who refute her claims of innocence. There were two knives onstage, one real and one fake; Gail was to stab Hal with the fake knife but it appears the real one was used. The police believe that Gail killed Hal due to their rocky relationship with each other. Sharona watches, feeling helpless, and pleads with Monk to help her sister. Sharona’s mother comes to visit, forcing Sharona and Monk to break the news about Gail to her. The three of them go to investigate Gail’s dressing room at the theatre, finding her understudy, Jenna Ryan, in her place. Sharona and Mrs. Fleming attempt to interrogate her, but she blows them off and makes an appointment to see them after Gail’s bail hearing. Meanwhile, Monk talks to O’Dell, the prop master, who demonstrates the fake knife Gail was to use. It had been constructed so that Gail couldn’t have mistaken it for the real knife. He reveals that the only other person present while props were being set up was Jenna. At Mrs. Fleming’s suggestion, the three of them go for a manicure, but the salon down the street is booked up. Monk notices that Jenna scheduled an appointment for the day before her first show long before the murder took place, piquing his suspicion. During the bail hearing, the judge refuses to hear Monk’s testimony and bail is denied. Mrs. Fleming promises Gail that she’ll get her out safely. Monk and Sharona find Jenna is deliberately avoiding her, but catch up with her at a speed dating meeting. Sharona signs Monk up for it so he can talk to her. After working his way through various speed dates, he finally reaches Jenna. The conversation turns to her role in the show; she mentions how her father was a failed actor who encouraged her career. She also claims to have been at a party during the time of the murder. Jenna soon grows suspicious of Monk just before their speed date ends. Monk leaves, telling Sharona that he’s convinced Jenna is guilty but doesn’t know exactly how. Monk and Sharona return to the stage to reenact the scene of the crime via reenacting the scene from the play. The director of the show, Karl Sebastian, walks in on their performance and is impressed with Monk’s performance and his rapid memorization of the characters’ lines, even offering Monk the role of the murdered man while they get in touch with his replacement. Monk is reluctant but Sharona gets him to agree to play the part. The next day, Monk attends his rehearsal, where the director has difficulty getting Monk into character. Jenna arrives and is surprised to find Monk playing opposite her. Monk’s idiosyncrasies prevent Sebastian from making progress and he calls for a break. Monk overhears him mentioning that it was Jenna that got Hal into the show. While being fitted for costumes, Monk talks to a member of the stage crew about Sebastian’s comment. She relays a rumor that Jenna slept with a producer and used it as blackmail to get Hal the part. However, Jenna had a known dislike of Hal, making it strange that she would go to so much trouble to get him the part. The crew member also notes that Hal had several odd behaviors, including a host of food allergies, including fish and peanuts. Monk talks to Gail in prison; she notes that Jenna was supposedly responsible for injuring an actress years ago in order to get her part, although there was no proof. Monk notes that her alibi was the same as the one she told him on their speed date. Monk arrives on show night and starts hyperventilating from stage fright. When Sharona takes his pulse, he is suddenly struck with inspiration and figures out how Jenna killed Hal: she tampered with an apple he took a bite out of onstage to cause a severe allergic reaction, which coincided with the knife stab. Before he can elaborate further, Monk is pulled onstage for his cue, and awkwardly attempts to carry on the scene. Meanwhile, Sharona searches Jenna’s dressing room for evidence and discovers a bottle of peanut oil, confirming Monk’s hypothesis. She tries to alert Monk while he’s onstage but Jenna gets wind of it and prepares to stab Monk with the real knife, but Sharona tackles her to the ground before Monk can be harmed. A man comes onstage asking for a doctor, but Monk recognizes him as the doctor who pronounced Hal dead the previous week. It turns out the man is Jenna’s father, who was an accomplice in her scheme all along. Monk notes how he witnessed him improperly take Hal’s pulse, which tipped him off. He exchanged the fake knife for the real knife and pronounced him dead through stabbing so as to implicate Gail and get his daughter the part. The police arrest him and Jenna and Monk receives a standing ovation from the audience. Gail is released and rejoins the cast of the show. The episode ends as Mrs. Fleming attempts to take a family portrait, which ends up ruined by Monk’s fussing. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: USA
- DATE: August 1, 2003 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:44:13
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:80044
- GENRE: Drama, police/private detective; Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; Drama; Private Detective
- SERIES RUN: USA - TV series, 2002-2009
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Tony Shalhoub … Executive Producer
- Andy Breckman … Executive Producer, Created by
- Randy Zisk … Co-Executive Producer
- Fern Field … Supervising Producer
- Phillip M. Goldfarb … Producer
- Tom Scharpling … Co-Producer, Writer
- Scott Collins … Associate Producer
- Ron Underwood … Director
- Wendy Mass … Writer
- Stu Levine … Writer
- Jeff Beal … Music by
- Patrick Williams … Music by
- Randy Newman … Theme Music by
- Tony Shalhoub … Cast, Adrian Monk
- Bitty Schram … Cast, Sharona Fleming
- Jason Gray-Stanford … Cast, Lt. Randall Disher
- Ted Levine … Cast, Capt. Leland Stottlemeyer
- Betty Buckley … Cast, Mrs. Fleming
- Melissa George … Cast, Jenna Ryan
- Simon Templeman … Cast, Karl Sebastian
- David Doty … Cast, O'Dell
- Kane Richotte … Cast, Benjy Fleming
- Mark Phinney … Cast, Doorman
- Marc Vann … Cast, Hal Duncan
- Gwen McGee … Cast, Judge
- Susan Chuang … Cast, Kathleen
- Jorge Luis Abreu … Cast, Salon Manager
- Amy Sedaris … Cast, Gail Fleming
- Timothy Landfield … Cast, Man from Audience
- Jeffrey Scott Kelly … Cast, Elton the Stage Manager
- Meredith Morton … Cast, Flora
- David Manis … Cast, Prosecutor
- Kerry Michaels … Cast, Older Actress
- Damara C. Reilly … Cast, Female Guard
- Caryn West … Cast, Speed Date #1
- Light Eternity … Cast, Speed Date #2
- Wendy Schneker … Cast, Speed Date #3
- Victoria Hoffman … Cast, Speed Date #4