An opulent train stranded without hope of rescue, a stone-cold corpse, suspects galore and a private investigator who thought he was on vacation are sidetracked on a comedic ride in a new telling of the Agatha Christie classic “Murder on the Orient Express,” at the Old Globe Theatre.
In the talented hands of playwright Ken Ludwig, the renowned detective Hercule Poirot – who generations have come to know in 33 novels as well as film and televisions adaptations – remains immaculately groomed, a finicky eater and compulsively observant. In a marvelous portrayal by Andrew Sellon, Poirot and the other passengers onboard are also riotously funny. Who knew a whodunit could be such a hoot!
Taking place in 1934, the story centers around the aftermath of a murder on a luxury train speeding from Istanbul to Paris before being stopped dead by an impassible snowdrift. Speaking of the dead, suffice to say that before meeting his demise, Samuel Ratchett (played with delightful wickedness by Matthew Patrick Quinn), was truly a rotten human being. Any number of his fellow travelers had motive and opportunity to do him in.
Among them is the world-weary Russian Princess Dragomiroff (Karole Foreman, with the right degree of haughtiness), her ultra-religious servant/traveling companion Greta Ohlsson (Sophia Oberg), an evasive Colonel Arbuthnot (Sam Ashdown) and his nervous paramour Mary Debenham (Helen Joo Lee). There’s also Monsieur Bouc (David Breitbarth) an old friend of Poirot’s who happens to own the rail service and Michel (Rejesh Bose), the train’s conductor. One passenger who perplexes Poirot is the Hungarian Countess Andrenyi (a fetching Ariella Kvashny). As he ponders her culpability in the crime, Poirot unexpectedly finds himself attracted to her.
This brings us to Helen Hubbard (dynamo Mylinda Hull, with the comedic chops of Lucille Ball), a Midwesterner who has accumulated a considerable fortune by churning through a number of wealthy men. When charmed by a gentleman she’s known to say: “Do you know who you remind me of? My next husband.” Prior to her serial marriage career, Hubbard was a hoofer and singer, and she frequently breaks into song that rattles the windows. Her rendition of “Lullaby of Broadway” is a showstopper.
This Globe offering is of a production first staged in early 2020 at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida, replete with the same director, Peter Amster. Also making the trip from the Sunshine State is stunning scenery (by Paul Tate dePoo III) in the astonishing form of a down-to-the-last-detail Pullman train that transforms throughout the story into a dining car, a row of private sleeping rooms, daytime carriage compartments, corridors for porters to silently traverse and a wireless radio communication station. Folks, you’ve never seen anything like this on stage. The exquisite and exacting dressed-to-the-nines wardrobe is by Tracy Dorman, who designed the costumes for the original Asolo production.
Adding to the ambience and enhancement of the story is projection design by Greg Emetaz that facilitates black-and-white filmed flashbacks of young Daisy Armstrong (performed during the run by Maya Gimbel or Addison Smyres), who is a linchpin in the story. Projections of a raging blizzard imparts a snow-globe effect to the characters trapped on the train. Light design is by JAX Messenger. Assorted steam, brake, and rail sounds are the work of sound designer Matthew Parker who underscores the desperation of the situation as the crew’s cries for help are drowned out by the static of a wireless radio signal.
Dialect coach Emmelyn Thayer mentored the cast of 13 through British, Scottish, American, Russian, German, Belgium, Hungarian and French accents. That many accents on display facilitated a laugh-out-loud scene in which every character had a different pronunciation of the word “iodine.”
Are you ready to get on board?
by Lynne Friedmann
