Toot! Toot! All aboard to Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse’s platform to catch Murder on the Orient Express, based on the Agatha Christie classic and adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig.
Ludwig’s adaptation renders a deliciously comic twist of Christie’s mystery thriller and delivers a highly entertaining production with big characters that stay true to the novel’s original plot.
This is one of Christie’s most popular and most familiar novels so most people have at least a passing knowledge of the plot. For those of you not familiar with it, the story brings ten people together who are traveling to London on the famous Orient Express. A blizzard in the mountains strands the train and while awaiting rescue one of the passengers, a sleazy bully of a man, is murdered. Also a passenger, Hercule Poirot is enlisted by a train official to investigate and he reveals a surprising ending – which I won’t spoil just in case you don’t already know.
Here directed by the amazing Cory Johnson, formerly of St. Ambrose University and winner of the prestigious Gold Medallion from the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival, she has assembled a stellar cast headed by the very talented Tom Walljasper as the Belgian detective. Every – and I mean every – performer in this cast completely nails their character.
Every bit as stunning as the cast, perfectly evoking the time period, is the elaborate Art Deco set and costuming. The set includes an immense reversible train carriage, one side being the dining car and the other being the sleeping car. So, gigantic shout outs go to Set Designer Becky Meissen, Master Carpenter Richard Baker and his crew as well as costume designer Bradley Robert Jensen and staff, respectively. Even more astounding is the speed with which the crew is able to make the scene changes proving that no show succeeds without the often unnamed and under appreciated backstage crew.
I can’t close out this review without mentioning one of the best Bootlegger pre-shows I’ve seen consisting of a medley of train related songs, including stand out performances of “City of New Orleans” sung by Joseph Nguyen and “Midnight Train to Georgia,” sung by Kirsten Sindelar.
Murder on the Orient Express continues at Circa ‘21 Dinner Playhouse, 1828 – 3rd Avenue in Rock Island through March 2nd with matinee performances on Wednesdays, evening performances Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and Dinner performances on Sundays.