A comedic take on a classic whodunnit

At Vintage Theatre, ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ showcases Josh Levy as Hercule Poirot

Agatha Christie’s original novel, Murder on the Orient Express, was published in 1934. Since then, this most famous of her books featuring Belgian super detective Hercule Poirot has been reimagined on film, TV, radio and stage and even an old PC game.

The most recent version for stage is Ken Ludwig’s 2017 adaptation, now on stage at Aurora’s Vintage Theatre in a production directed by Bernie Cardell. Ludwig’s version was done in cooperation with Christie’s estate, and the plot doesn’t stray far from the original (nor should it). As one of our preeminent creators of original farces, Ludwig of course adds plenty of his own humor and running about to spice things up.

At Vintage, one of Colorado’s most versatile and interesting actors, Josh Levy, steps smoothly into the detective’s mustache for a fast-paced and occasionally very funny take on this iconic whodunnit. I was also very happy to see the return to the stage of Haley Johnson as the loudmouth American entertainer Helen Hubbard. Johnson nails the character’s brassy obnoxiousness while managing Helen’s insecurities for a well-rounded performance.

The rogues’ gallery of a cast is also boosted by the venerable Deborah Persoff as Princess Dragomiroff. Wielding a legit-sounding Russian accent like its own weapon, Persoff dishes out the sarcastic one-liners to those deserving of them. She also looks fabulous in her costumes, especially the full-length black dress and turban. All of the costumes designed by Susan Rahmsdorff-Terry are very well done, in fact. The whole cast is dressed to the nines, and she clearly had her hands full.

Stephanie Soltis, Todd Black and Josh Levy in ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ | Photo: RDGPhotography

Juggling act

There’s plenty of comings and goings to manage and a raft of personalities to juggle and Cardell shows his experience keeping it all in line. Act One has a lot of scene changes that necessitate a fair amount of sometimes-noisy movement behind the curtain. This made things a little choppy until we got on the train, with things smoothing out after that. Ludwig spaces out the character intros nicely, so by the time the train is stuck in a snowdrift and the titular murder takes place, we have a pretty good idea who we’re dealing with.

Stephanie Saltis is a charming standout in the role of the Countess Andrenyi. With her handy medical bag, she becomes a sort-of sidekick to Poirot as he investigates. Notable, too, is Allistair Basse as Poirot’s Belgian buddy who also happens to run the railroad. And Molly Turner does yeoman’s work as Dragomiroff’s wildly uptight German traveling partner. With her hair screwed into a bun so tight it squeaks, Turner brings life to a part that could easily have been overlooked.

Once Poirot swings into full investigation mode, all of the characters take turns lying and squirming under his no-nonsense investigation. Levy has a field day here, twirling his mustache, strutting about in his three-piece suit and looking down on his fellow travelers like Skinner examining his rats. With a French — excuse me, Belgian — accent thicker than a Bruges waffle, Levy executes a commanding performance leading us through the twists and turns of the plot.

Along with the others, he’s also got a sneaking couple played by Bobbie Renee and Evan Marquez as well as an unpleasant American businessman (Terence Keane) and his nerdy assistant (Luke Fish). Todd Black puts in a nice performance as the porter, Pierre Michel, with just the right mix of deference and disdain for the passengers.

Don Fuller’s set design is a bit clunky but functional while sound by Luke Rahmsdorff-Terry and lights by Emily Maddox do a nice job establishing the world of the train. One more shoutout goes to dialect coach Sierra Rizzo, who oversaw a U.N.-worthy array of accents the cast managed fairly well.

If you can keep up with it all, Murder on the Orient Express is a fun, well-done outing in a familiar genre. It’s a great cast well directed and riding a perky script from Ludwig that keeps thing moving — even as the train itself is dead in the tracks.