THEATER REVIEW
“The Game’s Afoot, or: Holmes for the Holidays”
Grade: C+
Through Dec. 22. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays. $22-$27. North DeKalb Cultural Arts Center, 5339 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody. 770-396-1726, www.stagedoorplayers.net.
Bottom line: A forced farce.
In the tradition of his best-known showbiz farces “Lend Me a Tenor” and “Moon Over Buffalo,” Ken Ludwig’s “The Game’s Afoot, or: Holmes for the Holidays” is a zany period piece involving the high jinks of a group of eccentric theater people.
Taking a break from their latest hit, a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery, they spend a stormy Christmas Eve together in an isolated New England mansion. They represent all the usual suspects of chic and witty 1930s types. Moreover, when so-called life imitates would-be art, as it were, any of them could also be a cold-blooded killer.
Not the least of Ludwig’s theatrical in-jokes is that the murder victim happens to be a universally reviled drama critic. At one time or another in their careers, each of the house guests has felt the professional sting of her caustic reviews. Offstage and behind the scenes, too, she seems to have the dirty personal scoop on everybody and isn’t afraid to use it. One of the play’s running gags is that, even with a knife in her back, she’s not so easily gotten rid of.
As a spoof of murder mysteries, the plot is intentionally convoluted and far-fetched, such that keeping track of all the various motives and alibis is basically a moot point. More disappointingly, as a supposedly rollicking comedy, producing artistic director Robert Egizio’s Stage Door Players production isn’t nearly as lively or funny as it needs to be. The show’s pacing is sluggish, and some of the acting is flat.
For his part, Bryan Brendle goes over the top as the bombastic playwright and leading man of that Sherlock Holmes play, who’s hosting this deadly get-together. (If nothing else, it’s an interesting contrast to his lackluster performance earlier this year, playing the role straight in Georgia Ensemble’s “Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club.”)
The only real standouts in the cast are Jacob York and Holly Stevenson, ever-dependable actors both. He plays a dapper Cary Grant/William Powell type, and she’s the feisty detective who arrives to investigate the crime.
Elsewhere in Egizio’s experienced ensemble, the others are largely one-note: Cara Mantella as the shrewish critic; Jenny Holden and John Markowski as a newlywed couple; Amanda Cucher as York’s wife; and, most regrettably of all, the fine Jackie Prucha as Brendle’s daffy mother.
On the design side, Jane Kroessig’s swanky costumes are lovely. Particularly melodramatic moments in the show are amusingly accentuated by thunder and lightning, courtesy of Dan Bauman’s sound and John David Williams’ lighting.
Chuck Welcome, Stage Door’s resident scenic designer, generally does some very nice work. Here, he misses the mark slightly. Part of a back wall revolves to nifty effect (revealing a bar), but the holiday setting of the play is ultimately negligible. There’s a large Christmas tree off to one far side of the set, totally out of view to at least half of the audience, and that’s about it.
To be sure, in the end “The Game’s Afoot” lacks a certain spirit — holiday and otherwise.
