Deathtrap Review - Triangle Theatre ReviewReview By Robert W. Mcdowell Broadway’s longest-running comedy-thriller, Ira Levin’s Deathtrap, still packs a wallop Broadway’s longest-running comedy-thriller, Deathtrap by novelist and dramatist Ira Levin (Rosemary's Baby), still packs a wallop, as Raleigh Little Theatre’s current presentation proves. Despite the ubiquity of the 1978 stage play, which was performed in the Triangle last October by North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre, and the 1982 motion picture, which is frequently broadcast on television, last Friday’s opening-night audience still screamed in all the right places, thanks to suspenseful staging by long-time Raleigh Little Theatre artistic director Haskell Fitz-Simons and crackling good characterizations by an exceptional cast. Jim Aldridge is delightfully devilish as playwright Sidney Bruhl, a former master of the one-set, five-character thriller, who is suff ering from a colossal case of writer’s block and hasn’t had a hit play in years. Debra Zumbach Grannan adds a crisp cameo as Sidney’s wealthy but physically frail wife, Myra; and Anthony Feole gives a sassy portrayal as promising young dramatist Clifford Anderson, a promising former student of Sidney’s who becomes his secretary. Jenny Anglum provides a generous helping of comic relief with her hilarious portrait of eccentric Dutch psychic and author Helga ten Dorp; and RLT mainstay John T. Hall contributes a crafty characterization of Sidney’s urbane attorney Porter Milgrim, who is a frustrated playwright in his own right. Director Haskell Fitz-Simons, who brings out the very best in veteran cast, gets able assists from scenic designer Jim Zervas, lighting designer Rick Young, costume designer Vicki Olson, properties mistress Nicole Wilson, and sound designer Rick LaBach. The show’s splendidly detailed recreation of Sidney Bruhl’s home office -- a homely converted stable attached to a colonial house in Westport, Connecticut, and decorated with an awesome array of swords, daggers, firearms, handcuffs, etc. -- looks like the million bucks that the once-successful writer no longer has. Rick Young’s lighting and Rick LaBach’s sound design also help bring the show’s suspense to a boil, and Vicki Olson’s vivid recreations of 1970s costumes harken back to 1978, the year when Ira Levin’s fiendishly clever and wickedly funny comedy-thriller made its diabolical Broadway debut. Deathtrap has been running somewhere ever since. Raleigh Little Theatre presents Deathtrap Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 16-18, and 23-25, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 19 and 26, at 3 p.m. in the Cantey V. Sutton Theatre, 301 Pogue St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27607. $18 ($15 students are up to and including college and seniors 62+). 919/821-3111 or etix.com. NOTE: All shows are wheelchair accessible, and assistive listening devices are available for all shows. RALEIGH LITTLE THEATRE: http://raleighlittletheatre.org/performances/08-09/deathtrap.html. INTERNET BROADWAY DATABASE: http://www.ibdb.com/show.asp?ID=3000. INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083806/. WHAT: The TRIANGLE THEATER REVIEW is a FREE weekly e-mail theatrical newsletter, featuring previews and reviews by Robert W. McDowell and reviews by Alan R. Hall and others. (For brief bios of our critics, see the CVNC biographies page.) Classical Voice of North Carolina, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and this state's leading performing-arts platform, not only pays our reviewers but also makes continued publication of TTR possible. The online versions of our critics' theater reviews are now listed on the CVNC Reviews page. CVNC also publishes a comprehensive list of Triangle Theatre Openings and an extensive list of Theater and Film Links. DONATIONS: If you value the comprehensive, in-depth local theater coverage that TTR and CVNC provide, please mail a check today to Classical Voice of North Carolina, 3305 Ruffin Street, Raleigh, NC 27607-4025; or use your credit card to donate online via PayPal. Because CVNC is a 501(c)(3) organization, all financial contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law. Be sure to indicate that you want to support continued online publication of the TRIANGLE THEATER REVIEW. You may also donate to CVNC through the Triangle Community Foundation, based in Research Triangle Park. You can find current information about CVNC at Philanthropy Central, an online service operated by the Triangle Community Foundation. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE: E-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TTR in the Subject: line. TO UNSUBSCRIBE: E-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type UNSUBSCRIBE TTR in the Subject: line. QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? E-mail RobertM748@aol.com. COPYRIGHT: Editorial content and all formats © 2010 CVNC and the respective authors. Reproduction in any form without authorization of Classical Voice of North Carolina and the respective authors is prohibited. CVNC will maintain an archive of standard previews and reviews from past issues for at least a year. To request copies of web articles from 2005 and earlier, e-mail cvnc1@earthlink.net. You are here: Home > Reviews and articles about the theatre's productions > Deathtrap Review - Triangle Theatre Review |