Reviewed by Judy Richter
Fans of Alfred Hitchcock will find much to enjoy in "Alfred
Hitchcock's The 39 Steps," the London and New York hit that has opened in San Francisco.
Patrick Barlow's
stage adaptation of the great director's film of the same name is loaded with
allusions to other Hitchcock thrillers such as "Rear Window," Psycho" and "Vertigo" as well as dialogue from
the film.
Set
in London and Scotland in 1935, it's a minimalist adaptation with only four
actors and little in the way of props and furniture. Ted Deasy plays the central character,
Richard Hannay, who finds himself pursued as a murderer while he tries to
unravel a spy plot that threatens the nation. Claire Brownell plays the primary female
characters, most notably Pamela, Richard's unwitting travel companion and
eventual love interest. Eric Hissom and Scott Parkinson play all of the other characters, both male and
female, in a flurry of quick changes, many accomplished in the same scene
merely by donning a different hat.
Directed
by Maria Aitken,
the staging can be quite clever, especially the shadow scenes. However, much of
it is so broad and so silly that it's merely tiresome, not funny. The actors
are accomplished, especially since they're working without microphones -- a
rarity on Broadway -- but again the farce often goes too far.
Peter
McKintosh's
costumes and sets are effective, as is Kevin Adams' lighting design, but Mic
Pool's sound is
sometimes too loud. The original movement is by Toby Sedgwick with additional movement by Christopher
Bayes.
Simon
Corble and Nobby
Dimon came up
with the original concept, which they based on a book by John Buchan. There are many good ideas here,
but the show is too frantic for my tastes. The opening night audience seemed to
love it, though.
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