Arts

A Magical Ride

by Jules Becker
Thursday Dec 5, 2019

This article is from the December 5, 2019 issue of South End News.


© Mark S. Howard.  Lyric Stage Company of Boston production of "Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express."
© Mark S. Howard. Lyric Stage Company of Boston production of "Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express."  

It is very curious how differently an adapting playwright and a master director may perceive a classic original work. Ken Ludwig considers the mystery "Murder on the Orient Express" akin to a comedy. It should come as no surprise that the author of a comic hit like "Lend Me a Tenor" would express such a view. Admittedly, there may be characters in the mystery with humorous touches—notably the great Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot himself with his signature walk.
Still Agatha Christie buffs (including this critic who read most of her mysteries in his earlier days) might argue that this mystery gem has more in common with film noir. Tellingly, this is the genre which producing artistic director emeritus Spiro Veloudos brought up significantly during the Lyric Stage Company rehearsal period (see his playbill interview with acting artistic director Courtney O'Connor) for the company's striking current staging of "Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express."
With that affinity in mind, Veloudos has ingeniously created a kind of atmospheric symbiosis with Brynna Bloomfield's stylish scenic design and Seaghan McKay's artistic projection design. Bloomfield's train interiors design calls to mind Art Deco patterns and the cubist styles of Picasso and Leger. McKay provides film noir expository visuals about the pivotal Daisy Armstrong murder case as well as vivid representations of the Express and the areas it passes. Add kudos for Scott Klyve's richly complementary lighting—with poetic moments of shadow—and Gail Astrid Buckley's finely varied costume design for the ethnically diverse suspects—particularly the elegant evening wear of Princess Dragomiroff and Countess Andrenyi.
One can argue about Ludwig calling this mystery a comedy and reducing the book's suspects to eight (especially the removal of Count Andrenyi), but Veloudos' sharp ensemble make the interrogations by Poirot and the brilliant denouement fully absorbing. Standout Remo Airaldi has all of Poirot's charm, wit and Sherlock Holmes-rivaling smarts. The veteran actor (with notable work at the Lyric Stage Company and American Repertory Theatre among others) turns Poirot's telling observations to the audience—who are close enough to the stage to feel as though they are fellow passengers—and his solution to his most difficult case into a tour de force.
The supporting cast members work well with Airaldi and with each other. Kerry A. Dowling captures Helen Hubbard's talkative nature and Midwestern directness; this gifted singer even gets to sing briefly from "The Lullaby of Broadway." Celeste Oliva makes Countess Andrenyi charming and alluring enough to make Poirot wish that he were younger. Rosa Procaccino combines Mary Debenham's vulnerability and nervousness, and Davron Monroe has her lover Colonel Arbuthnot is properly protective as Poirot questions her. Monroe also convinces in the minor but flashy role of murder victim Samuel Ratchett. Sarah de Lima catches Dragomiroff's haughtiness in her voice and her body language, while Marge Dunn finds her maid Greta Ohlsson's diffidence. Will McGarrahan is very convincing as Orient Express Wagons Lit director and Poirot former colleague Monsieur Bouc.
Poirot's solution—or 'two' solutions—resembles "a magic trick." Likewise Veloudos' direction of "Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express" itself proves magical.