If You Ask Me: The 39 Steps at Westport Playhouse
By Tom Holehan
Connecticut Critics Circle
The Westport Playhouse’s “Season of Laughter” has opened with a deliriously funny revival of The 39 Steps, the Tony Award-winning comedy based on the classic 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film. If the Playhouse wanted to set the comedic tone with this first offering, they have mostly succeeded. You will laugh.
Adapted by Patrick Barlow from the novel by John Buchan, The 39 Steps was one of the first films to utilize Hitchcock’s theme of the innocent man unjustly accused. Much like the heroes of North by Northwest and The Man Who Knew Too Much, The 39 Steps plunges Richard Hannay (a sturdy Joe Delafield) into a mystery once Annabella Schmidt, a German femme fatale (Sharone Sayegh), talks her way into his apartment, reveals a nefarious spy plot regarding something called “the 39 steps” and ends up with a knife in her back. Accused of her murder, Hannay is soon on the run to uncover the truth that will exonerate him.
The original film is fairly straightforward while Barlow’s adaptation is a frantic and frenetic romp played out by a remarkable cast of four (Seth Andrew Bridges and Evan Zes complete the ensemble). An astute friend who joined me in Westport noted, “It’s like a Marx Brothers movie,” and he had a point. Breathlessly staged by Playhouse Artistic Director Mark Shanahan, The 39 Steps is a hellzapoppin’ affair as the actors do lightening quick vocal and costume changes playing so many characters I lost count. Bridges and Zes, in particular, get the workout of the night and continually deliver in spades. It’s all giddy fun that keeps the audience in stitches right until the act one curtain when we fear our hero has been dispatched.
Alas, the play’s second act slows down considerably and a noticeable lull sets in with extended bits played out well beyond their due date. It is no fault of the cast who remain a quartet of inventive clowns throughout, but Barlow might have been better served by keeping the play to a brisk 90 minutes without an intermission. The original film is only 80 minutes. The comedy’s two hour running time with an intermission slowly peters out to a lackluster curtain.
Still, there’s much to admire here. Hitchcock devotees will go giddy with all the film references sprinkled through the comedy, my favorite being the classic crop-dusting scene from North by Northwest. Also, the cast is frequently whipped into a frenzy and ready to do just about anything for a laugh. They are a valiant foursome, a true ensemble in every sense of the word.
James J. Fenton’s scenic design is clever enough to simply suggest several locales and Jeni Schaefer’s period costuming works just as well. Best of all is Ryan Rumery’s non-stop sound design, which includes familiar scores by Bernard Herrmann and Dimitri Tiomkin from Hitchcock’s best films. Despite a disappointing second act, The 39 Steps has enough to offer to make this a worthwhile entertainment.
The 39 Steps continues at the Westport Playhouse, 25 Powers Court in Westport through November 9th. For further information, visit www.westportplayhouse.org or call the box office at 203.227.4177.
Tom Holehan is one of the founders of the Connecticut Critics Circle, a frequent contributor to WPKN Radio’s “State of the Arts” program and the Stratford Crier and Artistic Director of Stratford’s Square One Theatre Company. He welcomes comments at: tholehan@yahoo.com. His reviews and other theatre information can be found on the Connecticut Critics Circle website: www.ctcritics.org.
