The lights are on for all of a second before the first body hits the floor. That’s the first clue that “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940,” by John Bishop, isn’t going to be your garden-variety mystery. Rather, it stands the genre on its head, matching a film noir look with a wildly convoluted plot and then running it all through the style of a fast-paced screwball comedy of the prewar era.
The Bruce Jacklin and Company production opened Friday night at The Alcove in downtown Mount Vernon to begin a four-weekend run that is sure to see the upstairs dinner theater hopping. Though a few opening night jitters left gaps in the banter, the cast soon hit the groove. The plot — or as much of it as can be given away here — involves a bunch of theatrical types gathering at a mansion on a snowy night to sell a new Broadway musical to a rich backer. But as the evening progresses, a series of unsolved mysteries and a mad killer up the ante as the guests become trapped by a blizzard.
Laura Miller shone as the arch German maid Helsa, replete with an über-curly blonde fright-wig that would have made Elsa Lanchester jealous. Speaking of Elsa, the rich woman Helsa works for is named Elsa, though not Lanchester. This Elsa came with a German name roughly as long as the stretch of Autobahn between Berlin and Munich, which I won’t even try to replicate here. Elsa was played by Patti Goeppinger in her Alcove debut. She had fun finding the batty side of her character and using it to get laughs.
Richard McKinley and Steve Stone played Kelly and O’Reilly, respectively. Much fun is had trying to figure out who’s really Irish, who’s the cop and who’s actually dead. McKinley drew big laughs in a scene where he had to resort to charades behind the backs of the others to feed information to Elsa as she makes a speech to everyone else. Stone was impressive keeping the audience guessing, as each of his character twists was as convincing as the previous. Gary Hyman played the pretentious and ineffective director Ken de la Maze with cheerful bluff, only gradually revealing glimpses of his character’s undercurrents.
The role of Nikki, an auditioning chorus girl (or is she?) who becomes central in solving the crime (or does she?), was played with flair by Leah Andrews, who was also making her Alcove debut, though she was extensively involved as assistant to the director in Jacklin’s production of “Beauty and the Beast” last summer at the Memorial Theater. Andrews consistently went the extra distance, finding extra places where she could play reactions and facial expressions for bonus laughs.
As the romantic interest which Nikki wasn’t interested in, small-time theater comedian Eddie was played with charm by Mount Vernon Nazarene University student Jordan Rogers. Rogers made much of his impact with the way he used his eyes to react to other characters, finding just the right “aw, shucks” flavor to make his role work. His star moment was when he rattled off a long tongue-twisting speech at top speed without missing a word.
Playing the song-writing team behind the musical being pitched, Steve Crano (Roger) and Jennifer Casner (Bernice) were superb. The 16-year-old Crano had the savoir-faire to make his fey character seem a world-weary professional of twice that many years, and his timing was sharp. Additionally, according to show director Bruce Jacklin, Crano wrote original music for the two show songs being auditioned to the financial backer, as the script supplies no music! Crano’s talent is stunning, as his music melodically, harmonically and rhythmically could have stepped right out of a Cole Porter or George Gershwin score. And he played the on-stage piano for those numbers, to boot.
Casner was by no means eclipsed in their partnership, however, as she nailed her droll character’s timing. She also played the hard-drinking lyricist’s inebriation well, which is not an easy thing to do on stage. She grew intoxicated gradually, but is so used to being drunk, she was still mostly functional. A bad actor would go over the top with such a character. Casner, though, knows that it’s even funnier when we see a tipsy character desperately trying to appear sober.
Susan Kahrl was “simply divoon” as her character, Marjorie the producer, would have had it. She portrayed the grand lady like Hollywood of the 1930s and ’40s: Scratch the surface tinsel and find the real tinsel beneath it.
Somehow Jacklin was able to fit all those people with their sudden entrances and exits through halls, doors, false bookcases and windows onto the small stage at The Alcove. But not only were the traffic patterns worked out, the show was paced to reflect the banter of a screwball comedy, and the mostly black-and-white set defined the era perfectly. Sharp production values and saucy acting combined to make an evening of goofy fun.
Incidentally, for those contemplating going to this dinner theater production, The Alcove is making its own debut in this production: A new almond and raspberry chicken which had diners raving. The production continues through the second weekend of February.
