Stage Review - Something’s Afoot (5th Avenue)
Stage Review - Something’s Afoot
Presented By: 5th Avenue Theatre - Seattle, WA
Show Run: March 01 - March 24, 2024
Date Reviewed: Friday, March 08, 2024 (Opening Night)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman
What do you get when you cross ten of Seattle’s best and most experienced actors with a musical comedy spoof of the greatest crime novelist in history? Or, maybe it’s better if I start by saying “a doctor, a French(ish) Grande Dame, an old Army veteran, an ingenue, and an amateur detective walk into an Agatha Christie play”. Either way, that pretty much sums up the plot of Something’s Afoot, the musical comedy now running onstage at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle through March 24, in a production directed by the theatre’s Artistic Director Bill Berry, and featuring some of Seattle’s best thespian talent.
Something’s Afoot, as advertised, is a musical spoof of the great Agatha Christie plays, more specifically her very popular “And Then There Were None”. Given that description, even if you’re not familiar with what is the world’s best selling mystery novel and the play that is based on it, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to glean the basic plot. So, there’s nothing really new or groundbreaking here from a plot or character perspective, but in terms of delivery, it’s akin to something like Spaceballs for Star Wars, where, just like with Something’s Afoot, the characters and plot are familiar, but both are exaggerated to the extreme, that alone driving so much of the humor in these types of shows. Ratcheting up the humor is done through blocking and positioning, creative stagecraft, and the ability for the cast to grasp the proper timing for delivering lines straight that garner laughs when placed in the context of the story. When I’m reviewing shows like this, I ask myself a few questions. First, what is the play designed to do? Is Something’s Afoot going to make me a better human? Of course not. Is it designed to make me laugh? Absolutely. Does it? WIthout a doubt. Are the actors talented enough to deliver this without diminishing its value? Are the creative aspects of the show designed to complement or accentuate the storytelling without going too far? There is the risk in a farce or a spoof, a balance that needs to be struck between making it feel funny, but real, and making it corny. Going too far skews corny, and that can take a good show and earn it a shorter than planned run. After careful contemplation, I can say that the answer to all of these questions is a resounding “yes”. Something’s Afoot is funny, it’s smart, it’s creative in its construction, and it’s expertly delivered by a cast with enough experience in both comedic and serious roles to understand how to deliver the former, while being informed by the perspective of the latter.
Carey Wong’s set, at face value, doesn’t appear to be anything out of the ordinary when it comes to murder mysteries set in a stately mansion. In this case, that location is the Rancour Estate in the English Lake District. The set is built with two floors, a staircase joining them together, with a large window placed at the center of the upstairs landing. There are rooms off to each side of both floors, bedrooms, libraries, the usual, each implied of course, but even so there is no doubt of their existence, and they are used frequently. The color palette Carey uses is red or red-adjacent, perfect for a show like this, making the overall feeling of the manor spooky from the outset. Add to that Robert J. Aguilar’s lighting and Haley Parcher’s sound (see thunder and lightning) and it goes from spooky to scary very quickly. And of course, the thunder and lightning come at the perfect time, comedically, fulfilling just one of the perfect murder mystery tropes found in this show. Everything is well designed here and put together, including little details like the rainfall on the upstairs window, and why not? It SHOULD rain, right? But where this show really stands out is in its stagecraft. Spoiler alert: There’s a murder (or maybe murders, it is based on And Then There Were None after all). But it’s how the murder, or murders, is, or are, presented that elevate the entertainment level. It’s not your parents’ Agatha Christie play.
And while the staging of this production is done really well, the magnificence of the storytelling lies with the actors themselves. This cast of ten (Ten Little Actors?) is so wonderful, both in portraying the exuberant exaggeration of their characters, along with an ability to do this accompanied by their incomparable musical talent. Most of the singing is left to Sarah Rudinoff, who is Miss Tweed the amateur sleuth, and who really believes she’s the next Miss Marple. Her character’s personality is big and Sarah’s voice is exquisite. Oh, she’s also quite proficient at handling props in a very comedic way. Other guests of their mysteriously absent host include a doctor, Dr. Grayburn (Yusef Seevers), Colonel Gillweather (Allen Fitzpatrick), Lady Grace Manley-Prowe (Anne Allgood), ingenue Hope Langdon (Ashley Lanyon), and Nigel Rancour (Adam Standley), the heir apparent to the Rancour fortune. They’re not the only ones in the house, of course, there are the requisite servants, Lettie the maid (Porscha Shaw), Flint the caretaker (Brandon O’Neill), and Clive the butler (Jason Weitkamp). Last, but certainly not least, it seems that there’s always an uninvited stranger in these stories, in this case that would be Geoffrey (Jonathan Luke Stevens), who seems to have mysteriously washed up on shore near the manor. It’s quite the collection of characters and quite the collection of actors playing them. The casting here is superlative, Bill and his team have picked individuals who each are so good at portraying those certain features that make the most laughs. It goes without saying that they’re all fantastic singers, but in watching Brandon’s movement and delivery as Flint, or Porscha’s strut across the floor as the sultry Lettie, and Jason Weitkamp’s overwhelmed butler, it’s clear how well this was cast, as each presentation is strong, and each actor is as funny as the next.
Musically, Something’s Afoot is generally light on the number of songs in terms of musical theatre, with six in Act 1 and five in Act 2, but the show relies on quality over quantity. Each number is replete with entrendre and innuendo, and some pretty crafty wordplay. “Dinghy” in Act 2 is the perfect example of this, and it’s the perfect personification of its performers, Brandon’s Flint and Porscha’s Lettie. “Carry On” is an anthem all about girl power and is expertly choreographed by Jimmy Shields and skillfully sung by Sarah (Miss Tweed), Anne (Lady Grace), Porscha (Lettie), and Ashley (Hope). It’s a quirky song that includes the show’s best use of weaponry, in a not so murderous way. Then there’s “I Owe It All”, which is the show’s tribute song to detectives of old and their authors, most notably Agatha Christie. Sung by Sarah, Ashley, and Jonathan (Geoffrey), it feels like this song summarizes the show’s purpose, but like all of the songs here, it’s delivered very well and with a heck of a lot of humor. I’d be remiss, of course, if I left Music Director Beth G. Tankersley out, as it’s up to her to bring out the best in this wonderful cast musically, and if the end result is any indication, she’s done a fantastic job. It’s the combination of story, presentation, including set, lighting, sound, and Deborah Trout’s excellent costuming, and performance that makes Something’s Afoot work as well as it does.
The 5th Avenue Theatre’s latest production, Something’s Afoot, features a cast of Seattle veteran actors, under the direction of Director Bill Berry, who demonstrate what it means when talent comes together without ego to present work as an ensemble that is synergy at its core. For any fan of Agatha Christie, Clue, or the Family Guy episode “And Then There Were Fewer”, or if you just want to laugh and be entertained by a group of extremely gifted performers, Something’s Afoot is a show you’re not going to want to miss.
Something’s Afoot runs onstage at the 5th Avenue in Seattle through March 24. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://www.5thavenue.org/.
Photo credit: Tracy Martin
