‘Dial M for Murder’ smart and tense
Recent adaptation of classic thriller gains much from central love affair being changed to involve two women
GLENS FALLS — The Adirondack Theatre Festival and its audiences are having great fun with the closing production of its 30th season, “Dial M for Murder.” It runs for less than a week, ending Aug. 7, so see if it you can.
Proving yet again the endless appetite for theatrical mysteries and thrillers of the sort Agatha Christie published as novels, short stories and plays from 1920 to 1973, the Old Globe theater in San Diego two years ago commissioned playwright and screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher to adapt Frederick Nott’s classic 1952 play, which inspired an Alfred Hitchcock movie in 1954 that starred Grace Kelly and Ray Milland.
Hatcher’s “Dial M” quickly became among the top five most-produced plays in America today, and it’s easy to see why. His reverence for the mystery form means he left largely intact Nott’s setting, story and rapid-fire plot developments, but his adaptation strengthens the characters whose affair prompts the whodunit, and he changes one of their genders, heightening the stakes should the relationship be discovered.
In the new version of “Dial M,” Margot (Sigrid Sutter) is a mousy, seemingly uncertain and hesitant London socialite of the 1950s whose inherited fortune is the equivalent of about $90 million today. It attracted a husband, Tony (Nick Bardoudi), who loves her in his way but is also a cad, cheerily boasting to other men of his adultery and that he married Margot for her money.
Tony dabbled at writing but now is in promotions for a book publisher, handling authors including an American mystery novelist, Maxine (Yesenia Iglesias), whose new work is predicted to be a bestseller. As “Dial M” opens, Maxine is back in London from the U.S. for publicity interviews, and we learn that she and Margot had an affair during her last trip and beyond, breaking it off only after Margot insisted Maxine stop writing a series of passionate letters.
Having discovered the affair after stealing the one letter Margot didn’t destroy, Tony concocts a blackmail-driven plot to have his wife murdered and gain control of her money. What ensues are two fast-paced acts packed with much complicated business about the letter, door keys, schemes and gambits tried and thwarted, and appearances by one of Tony’s college friends (Robert Najarian) and a dogged police detective (Dennis Schebetta).
As directed by Marcus Kyd, returning to ATF after last summer’s production of “The Last Wide Open,” “Dial M” bristles with intrigue and tension, often so effectively that Friday’s opening-night audience reacted audibly, sometimes with collective gasps. And the attempt on Margot’s life, with fight direction by Joe Isenberg, has raw, convincing power.
Hatcher’s best adaptation choice is the character of Maxine. As played by Iglesias, the strong, wily novelist becomes a formidable if unexpected impediment to Tony’s plan, and Iglesias and Sutter show their characters have a true connection despite it being fraught with danger, the potential for scandal high. What’s appealing about the relationship as written by Hatcher is the strength and agency he gives the women, especially Margot. She’s passive in the movie — things happen to her — “Dial M for Murder” When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Adirondack Theatre Festival at the Charles R. Wood Theater, 207 Glen St., Glens Falls
Running time: One hour and 50 minutes, including intermission
Continues: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 2 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday; closes Aug. 7
Tickets: $49 ($29 for age 25 and younger)
Info: 518-480-4878 and atfestival.org but here she’s on equal footing, and we recognize the women’s relationship is more genuine than what she had with her husband (even before he started trying to have her killed).
Miriam Weisfeld, in her third summer as ATF’s producing artistic director, told the audience Friday that, while “Dial M” is not a new play, as were three of its other shows this summer in different stages of development, “Dial M” exists because a theater company commissioned it. As such, the play
Courtesy of Adirondack Theatre Festival fits in with ATF’s rededication to its founding mission of championing original plays and musicals. It’s also taut, engaging entertainment, a thriller that takes us for a ride in the past but is powered by contemporary sensibilities.