How do you put a passenger train car in the middle of the Long Beach Playhouse (LBPH) Mainstage Theatre? With video projection, clever staging and a tightly orchestrated ensemble cast. All of those factors also conspire to make LBPH’s production of Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express” a well-paced, engaging mystery.
Adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig and expertly directed by James Rice, “Murder on the Orient Express” finds famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot boarding a luxury liner in Istanbul with several other colorful characters. A snowstorm in Yugoslavia stalls the train and one of its passengers is fatally stabbed, leaving Poirot to figure out who did it—and why.
The story begins at the Istanbul train station restaurant where Poirot (Eric Schiffer) meets his friend Monsieur Bouc (Lee Samuel Tanng), director of the train. However, a multimedia set (designed by Greg Fritsche and Artistic Director Sean Gray) also allows an atmospheric video to be projected onto a curtain at the back of the stage, creating an eerie tone.
Once everyone is on board, the set is transformed into the inside of the train carriage through precisely choreographed prop shifting by the cast and crew, who operate like clockwork under Rice’s direction, kind of like the train itself. Until the snowstorm, that is. Then everything stops and one of the passengers is dead.
The quirky characters trapped aboard make detecting the killer fun. All the actors inhabit their roles to a tee. Standouts are Tanng as the animated train director concerned mostly about negative publicity, and Susie McCarthy, who confidently channels Bette Midler as the delightfully brash American Mrs. Hubbard.
The other actors also seem to enjoy playing their multinational characters. Schiffer captures Poirot’s exacting attitude. Alex Piper is hilarious as a pretentious French waiter. Steve Shane adds underlying menace to his smarmy American businessman Ratchett, and James Webb is sympathetic as Ratchett’s in-over-his-head secretary.
Rose London is elegant and stately as the elderly Princess Dragomiroff, with Alex Lohman as her over-the-top hysterical German assistant Greta. Meredith Miranda is both sultry and competent as the exotic Countess Andrenyi, a doctor. And Elisa Richter as Mary Debenham is a perfect English rose next to beau Colonel Arbuthnot, played with a stiff upper lip by Lawrence Ingalls.
As Poirot interviews each passenger and parses through clues to figure out the motive and method of the crime, the plot only thickens, punctuated by Greta’s blood-curdling screams. Ultimately, an answer emerges, though it’s one that even Poirot grapples with revealing.
Talented actors, tight direction and effective set design make the Playhouse’s “Murder on the Orient Express” a transporting production. Bring your required COVID vaccination card and mask, then settle in for an excellent and amusing whodunit diversion.
“Murder on the Orient Express” continues at the Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage Theatre, 5021 E. Anaheim St., through Feb. 12, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $14 to $24 and can be purchased by calling the box office at (562) 494-1014 or visiting LBPlayhouse.org.
