Take the sounds of 80s soft rocker Richard Marx and mix them with an off-beat stage comedy.

That’s how Elizabethtown senior Tim Jones came up with “A Very Richard Marx Christmas,” a musical he will present for his senior honors thesis in an independent studies class.

Jones said he plans to present “A Very Richard Marx Christmas” in January along with two other plays, “Silencio” and “In the Closet.”

“It’s a pseudo-musical that’s taking Richard Marx music and puts in plot,” Jones said.

In the play, which Jones wrote three years ago, Richard Marx is suspected of murdering his wife. During Marx’s interrogation, flashbacks incorporate some of Marx’s old hits.

Murray senior Matt Jackson plays the character of Sheriff Blake. He also saw the first production of the play in Bowling

Green at the Grounded Coffeehouse in December 2000.

Jackson said that audiences will enjoy Jones’ sense of humor.

“He’s a very clever writer,” Jackson said. “His writing style is not like a lot of other people, but it works well.”

Reach Stephanie Toone at [email protected].