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| David Pittu as Hercule Poirot. Photo by T. Charles Erickson |
Whodunnit?
Well,
if you’ve read the Agatha Christie novel, or seen the 1974 Sidney Lumet film
adaptation or the 2017 Kenneth Branagh re-make, you know damn well “whodunit.”
Which leads to the question: why spend two hours watching the Ken Ludwig theatrical
adaptation of Murder on the Orient
Express that recently opened at Hartford Stage under the direction of Emily
Mann? After all, we work our way through mystery novels, by and large, to have
the solution to the crime revealed; it’s why we accept pages of exposition and
multiple red herrings. If we already know said solution, what’s the point? The
answer to the question with regards to this current production is up for grabs.
Could
it be production values? Buy a ticket just to see how scenic designer Beowulf
Boritt creates the fabled choo-choo on stage? Yes, that’s intriguing, and
Boritt delivers using a sliding stage and horizontal-closing curtain to create
the aura of the Orient Express and its movement. First reveal of the elegant
coach and dining area garnered well-deserved applause. But then what?
The
plot is a variation on the locked-room murder mystery – in this case the locked
room is a train stranded and immobile because of a snow storm. As an audience
member who well knew who is responsible for the murder of an American gentleman
named Samuel Ratchett (Ian Bedford) on the train, my main interest was in how
the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot (David Pittu) would be portrayed.
As initially written by Christie, Poirot is persnickety and vain, and Pittu
conveys both characteristics to a fault – he gives us a peacock strut as he
walks and a simmering disdain for all those who are beneath his intellectual
ability. In other words, Pittu’s portrayal of Poirot essentially holds together
this somewhat uneven production that isn’t sure whether it wants to be
melodrama or farce and, hence, falls between the cracks.
So,
back to the question of why attend? Well, there are bright moments to be
enjoyed, chief among them is Julie Halston’s snarky portrayal of Helen Hubbard
and Veanne Cox’s equally snarky rendering of the aged Princess Dragomiroff.
Halston gets to do a true comic-relief scene in which she dances in her
stateroom, an extended scene that delights the audience, and Cox rules as the
queen (or is that countess?) of the one-liners. Then there’s a nicely blocked
scene involving a gun, with the Countess Andrenyi (Leigh Ann Larkin) falling to
the floor multiple times to avoid being shot, and the religiously inhibited
Greta Ohlsson (Samantha Steinmetz) also falling and cringing in a moment of
extreme angst. Enjoyable as all of these are, the delightful parts do not add
up to a delightful whole.
Perhaps
if I had done an extended post-show audience interview, searching for people
who had had no exposure to the Christie novel or subsequent films, I might have
gotten a different perspective on the evening, especially whether the solution
to the crime was revelatory and worth the two-plus hours of theater. No such
interview was held, so I can only say that most of the evening was akin to
leafing through an album of old photographs, nodding in recognition, and
remembering the initial interest—excitement—engagement the photos captured. For
me, there really was no “Aha!” moment – the same might be true for most of the
audience, and if not, then we are left with weighing the value of the material
being presented. Yes, we go again and again to productions of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Death of a Salesman
and Doubt, knowing full well what
will happen, but we are forever captured by the writing, the artful
presentation of humanity’s foibles and follies. Murder on the Orient Express worked well as a mystery novel, and
both film versions relied heavily on star-power. Alas, though there is fine
acting to be seen in Hartford Stage’s production, it does not overcome the ‘been-there-done-that”
of the evening. It’s akin to unwrapping a gaily decorated present whose
contents you already know – you feign surprise and enjoyment, but you quickly
toss the present aside in search of something else – something that will truly
surprise and deliver unexpected enjoyment.
Murder
on the Orient Express runs through March 25. For tickets or more
information call 860-527-5151 or go to www.hartfordtsage.org.
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