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Lord Adalbert D’Ysquith is one of eight characters John Rapson plays in A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder.Joan Marcus

At the Princess of Wales Theatre, there is a crowd in and around the dressing room of John Rapson, one of the two leads in A Gentleman's Guide To Love & Murder. A publicist has his smartphone out and the stage manager is working her clipboard over pretty good. The matinee performance of the Broadway musical is about an hour away, and here comes the sound guy with Rapson's wireless microphone.

All in a day's work, really.

But who's that other woman, hovering just outside the open door? It is Nadine Hettel, Rapson's dresser for the show. She'll have her work cut out for her, because in this particular play – a music-hall farce most murderous – Rapson is multifarious, playing no less than eight characters. Costume changes for him happen often and lickety-split-like, and Hettel is his wardrobe maestro.

"She's the wizard who makes everything happen," Rapson says. For this touring version of A Gentleman's Guide, Hettel accompanies the actor. "To train someone to do what she does in every city would be like training a new me."

And that would not do. Rapson portrays the members of an oddball aristocratic family who are being preyed upon by an inheritance-seeking serial killer. It's apparently quite a hoot, this off-the-wall Edwardian-era operetta, and Rapson must be really good at posh English accents and getting killed.

"I pinch myself," says Rapson, 28, the pride of Rochester Hills, Mich. "It's a joy to perform."

Could you say it is a role to die for? "Yes, you could say that," he answers warily, clearly taken aback by a formidable wit he hadn't expected from his interviewer.

Rapson, who is frat-boyish and easygoing, never expected to land the role either, though he did dream for it. The New York-based character actor saw A Gentleman's Guide three times on Broadway, so mesmerized by Jefferson Mays's tour-de-force portrayal of the dying D'Ysquiths, those eight characters in the way of the scheming, penniless ninth in line.

Given the multiple characters – men and woman both – Rapson had to audition a total of six times for the spoofy Tony-winning musical, which was written by Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak, and based on a 1907 novel by Roy Horniman.

Asked about the numerous characters, Rapson cites Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb as a specific inspiration, but admits the role demands everything he has. "Every comedic influence that I've ever had has to come into play with this one," he says. "You use your whole tool belt."

But how does he get in the head of all those characters? How does he prepare? (Prepare, that is, if a newspaper writer wasn't peppering him with questions an hour before the show.)

"It's nearly impossible," he answers. "It's tough, but exciting. Knowing the text like the back of your hand helps."

One of his tricks is cologne – specifically a masculine scent called Sartorial, said by its maker to have been inspired by the whiff of the workroom at Norton & Sons, bespoke Tailors of Savile Row. Two bottles of it sit on the cluttered counter in front his mirror. Says Rapson, "It makes me feel a British gentleman."

Getting back to the costumes, Rapson praises the work of Linda Cho, the costume designer who won a Tony in 2014 for the wardrobe inventions of The Gentleman's Guide. "It's like putting on a different body," he says. "And the fact that you can put on a different body in 20 seconds is a testament to both Nadine and Linda."

Twenty seconds is a quick switch, and, speaking of which, the journalist's time with Rapson is up. Nadine is lurking, and she just can't wait to get the actor out of his clothes and into hers.

A Gentleman's Guide To Love & Murder runs to June 26 at the Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. W., mirvish.com or 800-461-3333.

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