Saturday, January 25, 2020

review - MURDER ON THE NILE - Scottsdale Desert Stages Theatre

Anne Sanford, James Olsen, Maria Bains, Jack Pauly, and Eliana Burns
photo by Rene Ashlock
highlights from local critics reviews - (click link at bottom of each review to read complete review)

Click here for more information on this production that runs through February 23

"...well-cast and tightly directed production...Set entirely in the salon of a riverboat as it embarks and tours the Nile River in the 1940s, Christie's drama brings together several distinct individuals....when one of them is found shot in the head, there are several suspicious passengers who all have a motive for murder....The play is packed full of the richly eccentric, odd, and high-strung characters Christie is famous for creating. It is somewhat talky and takes a while to introduce all of the characters, their connections to each other, and their motives for murder, but under Mark-Alan C. Clemente's clear and astute direction, and with a cast who are all skilled in creating unique individuals, it still makes for a fun and thrilling crime-solving drama. Jack Pauly is excellent as Canon Pennefather. He does a beautiful job in making one of the play's main characters wordly and likable but also imposing, mysterious, and someone who, based on specific actions we see him make toward the person who is killed, is also a top candidate for the murderer. Eliana Burns and James Olsen create sophisticated and stylish charters as the young newlyweds Kay and Simon, and Melissa Vo seethes with jealousy and rage as Jacqueline, Simon's jilted fiancĂ©e and Kay's former best friend....Teeming with jealousy, suspicion and murder, and a few fun and surprising plot twists, Murder on the Nile is a well-crafted crime drama, and Desert Stages' production has a wonderful cast, clear direction, and beautiful creative aspects that make the play an engaging experience. An added joy, if you've read the book or seen the film or TV adaptation of the novel, is that the play has many changes from those other versions of Christie's book."   -Gil Benbrook, Talkin' Broadway (click here to read the complete review)

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