Something’s up
at the Stoneham Theatre. It’s the “delicious…capricious… suspicious” murder
mystery musical, SOMETHING’S AFOOT (playing through March 23rd). The
creators (James McDonald, David Vos and Robert Gerlach with additional music
from Ed Linderman) manage to spoof two genres with one fell swoop: They send up
traditional musical theater while they “steal” every juicy character Agatha
Christie ever invented.
SOMETHING’S
AFOOT is loosely based on AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, with snatches of movie
perils tucked in: The bridge is out. The generator is blown. Poison has been
planted. A will is missing. An inheritance is at stake. You name the cliché and
you’ll find it lurking in plain sight! As Miss Tweed (the sensational Margaret
Ann Brady) ever so efficiently recounts her favorite motives, there’s always
“revenge, passion, lust and greed.”
The
tongue-in-cheek songs are delightfully awful or are they awfully delightful?
Both. You’ll hear clever musical references and Ceit Zweil’s spot on
choreography matches their intent to the letter (or note, as the case may be). The
overblown dancing is, in fact, a joy.
Director Caitlin
Lowans’ cast of misfit suspects had me giggling non-stop: Brady, as the no
nonsense Miss Marplesque cheerleader (“Remember, We’re British: Stiff upper
lip!”) gamely dispatches the corpses without so much as a “by your leave.” Off
stage they go. Then there’s the cheeky caretaker (John Davin in top form
pinching all the ladies), Nick Sulfaro as the hapless butler, Russell Garrett
as the dashing doctor, Mark Linehan as the devious nephew (whose tango with
himself, one leg involved in another dance altogether, is a sight to behold)
and J.T. Turner as the blustery colonel.
Kathy St. George
may not be who she says she is and Andrew Oberstein may or may not be a
student. He and Stephanie Granade may or may not be meant for each other but
they’re certainly charming together. Zweil as the not so loyal maid and Davin
have a hilarious escape number together, turning the corniest of vaudeville
songs into gold. No one is safe: Even the pianist (Bethany Aiken) is at risk in
Stoneham’s
comic triumph. Don’t miss it.
