Cortland, N.Y. — It seems appropriate that Cortland Repertory Theatre begins the summer with Agatha Christie’s evergreen “Murder on the Orient Express,” a victim of last year’s COVID-fueled truncated season. Like the theater itself, this venerable murder mystery featuring one of fiction’s most famous investigators always springs back to life in a satisfying way.
“Orient Express” has enjoyed many film and broadcast incarnations. For the stage, adapter Ken Ludwig, known for his knockabout farces and versions of classic mysteries, works efficiently and entertainingly here. The streamlined script is both witty and faithful to its source.
As with much of Christie, the mystery “Murder on the Orient Express” is rooted in the past, the kidnap and murder of a child on a Long Island estate (a crime clearly based on the Lindbergh kidnap case). The present is 1934 and the famed luxury train the Orient Express departs with first class car full. Among the nobility, nouveau riche and one mafioso, is famed Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Before long, the most villainous traveller is murdered, and Poirot is pressed into service to solve the crime.
As is often true with Christie’s plays and adaptations of her work, the “Orient Express” passengers provide ample opportunity for scenery chewing as well as fine character work. Both are on display here, but to happy effect. In fact, the mystery itself isn’t diabolically difficult to solve. It doesn’t have many twists and turns, but that doesn’t matter. Director Kerby Thompson, who understands the mechanism of whodunnits winds up the machine and it runs perfectly—and charmingly.
Stylistically, “Murder on the Orient Express,” evocatively costumed by Wendi R. Zea, unspools like a movie from the Thirties. The acting style is often arch, punctuated by a lively mix of accents and grand gestures. As the plot moves along and the train is stuck on snow covered tracks, the sleuthing moves into high gear. The…
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