In the news
July 31st.“Arlington Weekly News TV”
Rich Massabny/Producer/Interviewer/Reviewer/
Comcast CHANNEL 69 FiOS Channel 38 Broadcast 2010:
Thurs., 8/5, 6 p.m.; Sat., 8/7, 10:30 a.m.; Mon., 8/9, 8:30 p.m. YouTube.com/arlingtonweeklynews (beginning 8/6) www.richmassabnyreviews.blogspot.com LAZY SUSAN DINNER THEATRE – - “Greater Tuna”
I’ve seen the “Tuna” shows over the years with the originators, Jaston Williams and Joe Sears and I’m happy to report that the “Greater Tuna” show currently playing at the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre does it justice. Robert Biedermann and Matthew Randall play the two main roles of Thurston Wheelis and Arles Struvie and at least 10 other characters each to the hilt in the fictitious town of Tuna, Texas. The show revolves around these two guys who are radio personalities and other Tuna citizens. Great fun! Fortunately, “Greater Tuna” plays through Sept. 19, so you have plenty of time to enjoy the show once or twice and the Texas barbeque theme at the famous Lazy Susan buffet beforehand. On some nights two other fellows, Lyle Smythers and Jeffrey Davis take on the zany lead roles. Veteran director Frank D. Shutts II is the ringmaster with help from Mary Beth Smith-Toomey. “Don’t Miss This Funny Show!” For reservations, call the Lazy Susan at 703-550-7384 and check the website at www.LazySusan.com. 5904 N. 4th Rd., Arlington, VA 22203*703-527-2549; fax 703-527-3859 e-mail: richmassabny@aol.com,website: www.richmassabny.com
July 2010: Mount Vernon Voice Click to read full article
Drinks, dinner and a show — all in one place at the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre.
For more than three decades the dinner theater in Lorton near the Fairfax/Prince William County line on Route 1 has been entertaining crowds with live productions of great American plays such “Camelot,” “They’re Playing Our Song,” “The Unsinkle Molly Brown,” “Oliver!,” “The Odd Couple,” “Shenandoah,” “Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web” and “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown.”
And now for the first time, Lazy Susan has teamed up with the Little Theatre of Alexandria to put on a performance of “Greater Tuna,” a comedy set in Tuna, Texas, the third smallest town in the state populated by a cast of eccentric characters including radio station OKKK hosts Thurston Wheelis, Arles Struvie along with Elmer Watkins, Petey Fisk Rev. Spikes, and the whole Bumiller clan — all played by only two performers.
Saturday night, the crowd at the Lazy Susan chuckled and guffawed throughout the show performed that night by “Team Tuna,” Lyle Smythers and Jeffrey Davis. (“Team Texas,” Robert Biedermann and Matthew Randall, also share performance dates and the team which is performing on a given night is announced at the start of the show.)
The spoof on “redneck America” where the Lion’s Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies, has become one of the most produced plays on the American stage.
At the Lazy Susan, it’s best to arrive early. Doors open for seating at 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday evenings, and 5 p.m. on Sundays, the buffet begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 7 p.m. on Saturdays and 6 p.m. on Sundays and the curtain goes up at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 8:30 p.m. on Saturdays, and 7:30 p.m. on Sundays. (During selected Sunday matinees, doors open at 1 p.m.).
The Pennsylvania Dutch buffet, which is also featuring Texas BBQ during the run of “Greater Tuna,” features salads, relishes, home baked breads, roast beef, chicken and fish, and desserts, all prepared from scratch. Be sure not to miss the rum buns. Invitations to the buffet are based on the order in which you arrive at the theatre.
Also, by arriving soon after the doors open, that gives guests the plenty of time to sip the house drink, the appropriately named “Magna Grande” with light rum and banana liquor. (A non-alcoholic version is also available.)
The waiters and waitresses are all actors in other productions. Here they perform “Happy Birthday” and “Happy Anniversay” songs for the guests.
The dinner theatre, located high on a hill just past the Route 1 South Woodbridge/I-95 split at the intersection of Route 1 and Furnace Road, is fixture in the community, as is the Skinifatz nightclub located nearby and under the same ownership.
The Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre is one of the few surviving dinner theaters that has opened since the heyday of the “chow-biz” in the early 1970s, notes its website.
Theatre manager Karol Kaldenbach is also a fixture there serving as manager there for many years after growing up in the Mount Vernon and Franconia areas.
Theatre manager Karol Kaldenbach, a Mount Vernon/Lee native, chats with guests Saturday night before the opening of “Greater Tuna” at the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre.
Kaldenbach can been seen evenings greeting guests and chatting with customers before the opening of the performance.
Adult admission on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays is $41.95, and $44.95 on Saturdays. Tickets for youth ages 11-15 is $35, and $25 for children. The price includes dinner, show, tea, coffee and tax.
For more information, or to make a reservation, call 703-550-7384, or go to www.lazysusan.com. For group information, ask for Karol.
— Steve Hunt
03/25/10: CBS-TV- A musical that celebrates America in the same way that “OKLAHOMA!” did.
Opening March 24 at the Lazy Susan will be “Shenandoah,” the Tony Award winning Broadway musical about a Virginia farmer who struggles to maintain the rugged and simple farmer’s life he and his family lived before the Civil War began to rage around them.
This ever popular story based on the movie starring Jimmy Stewart has been received with immense acclaim wherever it has played and prompted words of unusual acceptance from America’s most discerning theatrical critics:
“‘Shenandoah’ will please most of those who like musicals a little serious and a trifle old-fashioned. It is nice to have a show that not only dares to be tuneful but is ever willing to throw in a morsel of moral uplift.”
Clive Barnes, New York Times
“A tuneful, thoughtful, sentimental musical – clean as a whistle, youthfully vibrant, yet as moving as the history it portrays.
Christian Science Monitor
Moving, sentimental, and appreciated by almost everyone who has seen it, “Shenandoah” is a great evening out for your family, your friends, or just about anyone you would like to bring.
“Shenandoah” will run through July 11.
For reservations and information, call (703) 550-7384.
A visit to the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre is a nostalgic trip back to the golden age of dinner theater. Lazy Susan was around when the so-called “chow-biz” was in its heyday in the Washington area. When the venerable Lazy Susan Inn, a family restaurant since 1955, began operating its dinner theater in the early ’70s, the region was soon alive with competition, from the Hayloft Dinner Theatre in Manassas, Va., to Petrucci’s in Laurel, Md. The Hayloft and Petrucci’s, like many others, are now defunct but the Lazy Susan plays on.
Perched atop the hills above the Occoquan River north of Woodbridge, Va., the theater has survived with few outwardly significant changes in the operation. The exterior is a low-slung, faded and rambling structure like so many roadside restaurants along southbound highways, before the construction of the interstate. Inside, the dining and theater area is dark as a bar, tables arranged before a wide-but-shallow stage, with the rear tables raised a few steps for a better vantage point.
As in the old days, actors wait the tables, bringing drinks and coffee, while patrons fetch their own food from an adjoining buffet room. The food is abundant and tastes homemade. Many of the four shows a season are musicals accompanied by taped background orchestrations, but, of course, the singing is live.
The party atmosphere generated by the buffet — and undoubtedly the cash bar — always makes for a good time.
– Leonard Hughes
Lazy Susan has been around so long, it’s become a bit of a tradition for locals and tourists alike. The main attraction is not so much the live show but the gourmet all-you-can-eat buffet featuring hand carved prime rib, roast beef, salads, soups, home-made sides and unlimited desserts. Be sure to clap and cheer for your waiter as he or she does double duty as a performer in the show.
Metromix.com
| July 16 – September 14, 2008 You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown Reviewed August 14 by Brad Hathaway |
Running time 2:20 – one intermission A clever and tuneful set of vignettes nicely performed Click here to buy the CD |
| Clark Gesner’s charming set of musical and comedy vignettes on topics typical for Charles M. Schulz’ characters is, pure and simple, a charm show. To succeed it doesn’t take great voices, fabulous acting or astonishing special effects – in fact, any one of those would unbalance the piece if it weren’t accompanied by the hard to define and even harder to create but easy to spot element: charm. The piece gives a cast of six material to play with – and “play with” is the operable phrase. Just perform it and it just lays there, but if the performers have fun, the audience has fun. Lazy Susan assembled a cast with enough charm to make the piece work (especially those playing the roles of Snoopy, Schroeder and Charlie Brown’s younger sister, Sally – a creation added when the show went to Broadway thirty-some years after its Off Broadway debut). Director Hans Bachman draws from them performances that more often than not do have the required element: charm.Storyline: A day in the life of Charlie Brown begins as he is, of course, late for school. He suffers all the trauma of lunch-time and the angst of wondering if the cute little redheaded girl will notice him. While his dog fantasizes, his family and friends go about their daily routines. He struggles with a kite, undergoes psychotherapy from “the doctor is in” Lucy, and attempts to inspire his baseball team to avoid a total failure of a season. In the end, he is assured by all assembled that he is, in fact, “a good man, Charlie Brown.”Clark Gesner’s revue built on the well known characteristics of the characters from Charles Schultz’ comic strip unaccountably titled “Peanuts” has been a success ever since it was first produced in the 1960s. It has played schools, community theaters, professional theaters, television and even – beefed up with a new character and two additional songs – made it to Broadway for a successful revival in 1999. This production uses the expanded Broadway script with the character of Charlie’s sister, Sally, and the songs “Beethoven Day” and “My New Philosophy” for Schroeder and Sally.Karen O’Connell handles the role created for Kristin Chenoweth with a strong sense of energy and Ryan Lucius Schaffer gives himself over to the whimsy appropriate for playing the beleaguered beagle, Snoopi. (His “Suppertime” is a bright spot as choreographed by Rebecca Cznadel.) Christopher Shaw is fun to watch even when he’s not the center of a scene as the Beethoven-loving Schroeder, and his energy level sparks some of the ensemble moments. The title character was portrayed by understudy Justin Mohay on the night we attended and he acquitted himself nicely.The vignettes play out before a primary colored background reminiscent of a Schulz Sunday strip and the costumes match. Even the properties get a whimsical treatment that reinforces the charm of the evening – Schroeder’s piano is in just the same proportion to the characters as it was in Schulz’s drawings. Music director John Edward Niles’ combo accompaniment has been recorded for playback through the house’s acceptable sound system, so, while it may not have all the excitement of a live performance, it works well.Music, lyrics and book by Clark M. Gesner. Additional music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. Based on the comic strip “Peanuts” by Charles M. Schulz. Additional dialogue by Michael Mayer. Directed by Hans Bachmann. Choreographed by Rebecca Cznadel. Vocal and musical direction by John Edward Niles. Design: Pat Koster (costumes) Jeanne Forbes (lights) George Rouse (stage manager). Cast: Benjamin Badenbaugh, Justin Mohay, Elisabeth Ness, Karen O’Connell, Ryan Lucius Schaffer, Christopher Shaw. | |
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| July 20 – October 16, 2005 Something’s Afoot |
Reviewed August 3 Running time 2:00 – one intermission A pleasant spoof that drags a bit |
| This 1976 musical spoof of Agatha Christie’s type of British whodunit has a bouncy score, a number of good gags and a sufficiently intriguing mystery in its storyline. It benefits from an obvious affection for both the whodunit genre the script is spoofing and the musical comedy genre the score is simultaneously parodying. Unfortunately, it suffers from a number of insufficiently polished performances by too many in the cast and a certain plodding pace in the dialogue scenes. It seems to gain a sense of momentum from each of the songs, only to begin to bog down again before the next song cue.Storyline: Six strangers arrive at a mansion on an island in the middle of a lake in England. A storm rages outside, washing out the bridge that is their only connection to the mainland, and the butler announces that their host has been murdered. Soon, the staff and the guests begin dying off as well.The pre-recorded orchestral accompaniment sounds very bright and good. The orchestrations for a pit band of eight are performed with a thoroughly satisfying sense of bounce which gives the cast members every chance to make the most of their individual numbers. Doing the best with them are Dena Kolb and Dan Cullen who kick up their heels quite nicely on the duet “I Don’t Know Why I Trust You (But I Do.)”Each of the cast members has a moment to shine. Some have more than one. Elizabeth Roth is quite strong in the role that is a send up of the Agatha Christie persona and Ron Sarro, after a slow start, gets quite funny as the veteran of service in Her Majesty’s Forces in India. The night we attended George Rouse suddenly emerged from an only mildly amusing performance as the handyman to sell his big Act II number about his “Tiny Dinghy” to a chortling audience.All of this takes place on one of Lazy Susan’s most elaborate sets which stretches across the full extent of their wide stage. The mansion, marked by traditional Tudor exposed cross beam and stucco in the interior, is filled with devices for the effects associated with the various murders, which, just as in And There Were None, reduce the number of survivors to a minimum before the final resolution of the mystery. The moments before the rousing finale are strangely inert, but then the entire cast comes in for one final sight gag set to music which picks up everyone’s spirits for one last time.Music and Lyrics by James McDonald, David Vos and Robert Gerlach. Additional music by Ed Linderman. Directed by Hans Bachmann. Musical direction by John Edward Niles. Vocal direction by Lori Roddy. Design: Hans Bachmann (costumes) Liz Crosbie (lights) George Rouse (stage manager). Cast: Jade M. Banks, Dan Cullen, Jeffrey Bryce Davidson, J. C. Gonzales-Stanley, Ryan Keough, Dena Kolb, Elizabeth Roth, George Rouse, Ron Sarro, Elena Stangland. | |
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| July 14 – October 3, 2004 The Spitfire Grill |
Reviewed August 3 Running time 2:20 – one intermission Click here to buy the CD |
| This sentimental musical is based on the movie which starred Ellen Burstyn as the crotchety owner of the only remaining restaurant in a small town. It is given a production that emphasizes telling the story as clearly as possible. The score features two dozen plot driven (and plot driving) songs for six of the seven member cast. As staged here by director Hans Bachmann, the focus on clarity of storytelling also paves the way for the cast to create characters that are interesting and consistent in their actions even if they are a bit predictable. The Lazy Susan has alternate cast members for two of those characters, one of which is the key role that Burstyn had in the movie. This, plus the fact that the other leading role was performed by the understudy the night we attended, makes it a bit difficult to predict the quality of performance our readers can expect.Storyline: A young woman getting out of prison travels to the scenic Gilead, Wisconsin she has dreamed about after seeing of a photo spread on the town in a magazine. She finds it is almost a ghost town having hit hard times when the local quarry closed down. The sheriff, to whom she is to report, gets her a job in the nearly bankrupt grill where she brings new spirit and life to the community. The crotchety owner of the grill has not been able to sell the property, so the newcomer suggests she hold a raffle or contest to select a winner. James Valcq who also wrote the book, music and lyrics for the off-broadway Zombies from Beyond, and the late Fred Alley who was a founder of the American Folklore Theatre in Wisconsin, adapted the screenplay for the stage. Their approach is straight forward, letting the events in the story play out in linear fashion with background information provided in dialogue or lyrics when needed. Their songs have a country music sound that demonstrates how true country music, as opposed to the more commercially popular country/western sound found on radio stations identifying themselves as “country’s best music,” is closer to Irish pub songs and fiddle festival dance music than to standard American pop songs.Marci Shaver played the crotchety owner/operator of the Spitfire Grill the night we attended. (Jade Banks handles the role at other performances.) Shaver’s voice is a bit weak and she slips out of the posture of a weak elderly lady from time to time, but she gets the emotion of her relationship with the young newcomer across. That newcomer is usually Stephanie Dillard, a veteran of Lazy Susan productions. Her understudy, who went on the night we attended, is Maureen Lynch who is believable in the role and sings with a fitting country twang.Strong supporting work is provided by Joe Dodd whose booming “Digging Stone” is a highlight of the first act and Kristen Jepperson whose delicate “Wild Bird” is a highlight of the second. The entire cast is singing to a pre-recorded accompaniment which, under music director John Edward Niles, meshes nicely with the live cast.Music and book by James Valcq. Lyrics and book by Fred Alley. Based on the film by Lee David Zlotoff. Directed by Hans Bachmann. Musical direction by John Edward Niles. Vocal Director Michael Hadary. Design: J. C. Gonzales-Stanley (costumes) Lynn Joslin (lights) George Rouse (stage manager). Cast: Jade Banks or Marci Shaver, Christopher Damanda, Stephanie Dillard, Joe Dodd, Krissy Doyle or Jen Morris, Michael Hadary, Kristen Jepperson. | |
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| July 9 – October 5, 2003 Steel Magnolias |
Reviewed July 29 Running time 2 hours 35 minutes t Potomac Stages Pick |
| Here’s another example of the time honored tradition of live theater: when the house lights dim you never really know if you are going to be blown away, just entertained or something less. In this case, it is the former – this production gets under your skin and you walk out with that satisfied feeling that has nothing to do with the plentiful food they serve at this dinner theater. A cast of six women carry you through an emotional journey from light laughter to tears in a simple story well told.Storyline: Over four Saturday mornings covering two and a half years, a group of ladies in the fictional Chinquapin, Louisiana gather in the beauty parlor for shampoos, doos and friendship. A mother-daughter team provides the dramatic thread as the first Saturday is the morning of the daughter’s wedding while the final Saturday is the day following her funeral. In between, her struggle with diabetes, and the reactions of her family and friends, forms the basis for a warmly human view of the meaning of family and friendship.Robert Harling wrote this, his first play, to capture his view of his own family’s struggle to deal with his sister’s death from diabetes and its complications, and to pay tribute to what he saw as the strength of character of southern women whom he called “Steel Magnolias.” After a successful off-Broadway run, the play was picked up for a movie which featured Sally Field, Shirley MacLane and Olympia Dukakis. It became a prototype of the genre sometimes called a “chick flick.” But don’t be fooled, this is not a play exclusively for female audiences. It is a well constructed, well developed comic drama that works for both sexes.Cast as the mother-daughter pair are Barbara Catrett, a community theatre regular making her debut at Lazy Susan and Krissi Smith-Mace, in her eighth Lazy Susan show. Smith-Mace is appropriately adorable to start and allows her character’s reactions to the progress of her illness, and her determination to lead a fulfilled life even at high risk, emerge slowly through the evening. Catret keeps her character’s emotions just under the surface in the early going, giving momentary glimpses of the fears that drive her judgments. When those emotions break through in the touching climax it is with a force that is truly moving. The rest of the cast is impressive, indeed, with particularly satisfying work from Jade Banks as the woman who believes that “the only thing separating us from the lower animals is our ability to accessorize” and her perfect foil, Jeanne Forbes, who gets to spout gems such as “I’ve been in a very bad mood for 40 years.”Director Hans Bachmann has drawn very naturalistic performances from the entire cast, giving the production something of the feel of eavesdropping on reality rather than the hyper-dramatic artificiality of watching a soap opera. It works very well, except for the fact that it makes hearing from the rear of the house a bit difficult given the competition from the loud air conditioning system. The set design of Karol F. Kaldenbach, long time Lazy Susan Theatre Manager, is similarly naturalistic, getting the feel of a neighborhood beauty parlor in a small southern town just right.Written by Robert Harling. Directed by Hans Bachmann. Design: Karol F. Kaldenbach (set and properties) J. C. Gonzales-Stanley and Barbara Cobb (costumes) Lyn Joslin (lights) George Rouse (stage manager.) Cast: Jade Banks, Barbara Catrett, Barbara Cobb, Krissy Doyle, Jeanne Forbes, Krissy Smith-Mace. | |
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| July 10 – October 13, 2002 Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? |
Reviewed July 31 Running time 2 hours 30 minutes Price range $17 – $35 |
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| There is a sense of balance and proportion in this amiable little production of this appealing little show. Story, songs, performance, set, costumes, pacing all seem to be at about the same level which makes the piece a pleasant trifle for a summer evening. Add Lazy Susan’s bountiful if somewhat bland buffet and an unhurried atmosphere both before the show and during a very lengthy intermission and you have an evening’s outing for a group with plenty of time to talk amongst yourselves and an entertaining diversion.
Storyline: Eight students go through Catholic Elementary and High School in the 1950s. Eddie likes Becky, but is embarrassed to show it when all his friends make fun of sissy stuff and Becky is made miserable by being overweight in Elementary School. By their senior year, she has slimmed down and become beautiful and Eddie has fallen in love. She, on the other hand, thinks she may become a nun.While this show was a flop on Broadway in 1982 where they were looking for spectacle and flash involving cats, falling chandeliers and hovering helicopters, its simple charms have made it a popular choice for dinner theaters and community troupes around the country. The key to success is to give it a strait forward, energetic production and to keep the physical aspects of the production from weighing the evening down. Director Hans Bachmann finds and keeps the energy level just right and draws nice performances from all of the eight kids, four nuns and a priest.Three roles are the focus of the evening – Eddie, Becky and Sister Lee. Ryan Keough makes a pleasant Eddie, growing from uncertain second grader to high school suitor with charm. His big number in the second act is very well done. Melissa Wilmoth is a bit soft voiced as Becky but her acting is first rate as she emerges from a “fatty” to a beauty. The key adult role is the nun who seems excessively strict at first but reveals a deep affection for her charges, all the while spouting the clichés of Catholic schools. Jade Banks is just right in the role. She even carries the character over into the intermission, serving coffee to the patrons with a strident demand for their preferences. “Which do you want, now, regular or decaf?” never sounded so demanding before.Each character – - whether student, nun or priest – - has a strong personality and Bachmann has given each one small touches that work well. Brandon R. Mace is particularly good as a geeky kid who turns in a nifty Elvis-like “Doo-Wah, Doo-Wee” performance at the high school dance. John Edward Niles’ recorded orchestra provides bright accompaniment and the set design which features both the “Lazy Susan” rotating carousel and a quick change cube of scenery flats, allows quick changes to keep the multi-scene acts moving right along.Written by John R. Powers. Music and Lyrics by James Quinn and Alric Jans. Directed by Hans Bachmann. Music director John Edward Niles. Design: Lyn Joslin (lights) J.C. Gonzales-Stanley (costumes) Karol Kaldenbach (nuns habits). Cast: Ryan Keough, Melissa Wilmoth, Jade Banks, Brandon R. Mace, Liz Hester, Electa Dawn Lee, Kyle Johnston, C. Gonzales-Stanley, Erin Shanahan, George Rouse, Christopher Damanda, Madeline Mace, Krissi Smith-Mace.
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| A Muddled ‘Murder on the Nile’ Struggles to Stay Afloat
By Michael Toscano
Special to The Washington Post Why would anyone want to murder lovely Kay Ridgeway Mostyn?
After all, she was generous and kind, enjoying her honeymoon floating down the Nile on a paddle steamer. Kay was also very rich. On the other hand, her new husband, Simon Mostyn, is not rich at all — not until his wife’s death. In addition, Kay was being stalked by the slightly unbalanced Jacqueline de Severac, her former best friend and Simon’s previous fiancée.
Yet Jacqueline and Simon seem to have airtight alibis, and no one else aboard the seedy boat appears to have a motive. All that can only mean one thing: another Agatha Christie mystery. “Murder on the Nile” has a long, strange pedigree. It started in 1937 as the novel “Death on the Nile” and featured the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. When Christie adapted the novel for the London stage in 1946, she dropped Poirot from the story, trying to keep him from overexposure, along with several of the book’s more interesting characters. She also radically reworked the ending and changed the name to “Murder on the Nile.” Still not convinced she had it right, Christie re-christened the play again as “Hidden Horizon” when it opened in New York. The 1978 movie, called “Death on the Nile,” brought back Poirot, played by Peter Ustinov. The muddled version the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre is staging, the original stage adaptation, doesn’t seem much like Christie’s best work. Although called “Murder on the Nile,” all the audience gets is the river and no murder for the first half of the play, which is one very long series of exposition-laden conversations. One by one, the various passengers/suspects arrive in the observation salon of the paddle steamer, talk about themselves for a while, and then shuffle off. Christie’s script labors under the weight of numerous highly improbable coincidences, in which important plot points hinge on characters remembering that they have briefly seen each other in chance encounters elsewhere. As if suddenly remembering “murder” in the title, Christie finally has a bullet find its mark, only about an hour late and just before intermission. But even that is only a flesh wound. About two minutes in Act Two, the plot finally takes off and death visits the ancient river. By then, it’s obvious who did what to whom. And the rest of the play is spent watching the apparently slower-thinking passengers solve the crimes. Christie can’t even decide who should be the detective and has several characters take a crack at it. The odd thing is that “Death on the Nile” is said to be one of Christie’s favorite novels, and the original work is rich with atmosphere, character and plot — all the things missing from the stage version, despite some hard work by the talented cast at the Lazy Susan. Directed by Hans Bachman, a boatload of Lazy Susan regulars gamely makes its way through the story, with young character actor Billy Chace adding a nice dash of exotic color as the mysterious Dr. Bessner. Wendy Wilmer goes comically over the top as self-absorbed grand dame Miss ffoliot-ffoulkes. And Jeffrey Bryce Davidson, looking resplendent at one point with a cranberry velvet smoking jacket worn over a black shirt and roman collar, deftly portrays the prickly and slightly shady man of the cloth, Canon Ambrose Pennefather. Despite being handicapped with a murky script, the actors keep it moving along briskly. Act Two is rather enjoyable, thanks to energetic performances and a finely shaded characterization by Kevin Doyle as the is-he-or-isn’t-he-murderous new husband and newer widower, Simon. Usually a review of a murder mystery should not mention who gets killed. But in this case, with not much else happening in Act One, knowing what is to come allows the discerning viewer to begin stockpiling clues and prepare to solve the crime. And engaging the brain is what makes a whodunit fun. “Murder on the Nile” continues through March 27 at the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre, Route 1 at Furnace Road, Woodbridge. Performances are at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 8:30 p.m. Saturdays and 7:30 p.m. Sundays. For reservations or dining information, call 703-550-7384 or visit www.lazysusan.com. |
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