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Murder mystery lacks strong choices

By Bridgette M. Redman

"The Broadway Onstage Murders" continues through March 19 in Eastpointe. Photo: Broadway Onstage

"The Broadway Onstage Murders" takes a page from the Mistress of Murder, Agatha Christie, with a play styled after her works.
Christie found a formula that delighted her audiences and kept them buying book after book. She became the mistress of murder because amid the formulaic books, there were works of pure genius and dazzling cleverness. As even her most devoted fans will attest, between those works of brilliance were some stale novels that lacked the Dame's usual flair.
Broadway Onstage has hit upon a formula which appeals to its niche audience. They specialize in shows created by playwright Dennis Wickline (who wrote and directed this show) that feature interactive mysteries in their intimate storefront location. Their current offering, "The Broadway Onstage Murders," follows the formula they have found to be successful. While they've created enough gems to keep their loyal audience coming back for more, this particular offering tasted stale.
In "The Broadway Onstage Murders," four actors perform a trite tale, the play within a play, that teases at but ultimately shies away from being true melodrama or pure farce. They break character frequently to let the audience know they are disgruntled workers with murderous desires.
During intermission, performers mingle amongst the audience to give their alibis, answer questions and try to convince theater-goers of their versions of the murder. It is a style that can make for an entertaining evening of theater, creating a unique experience with every performance. The show is flexible enough that it can provide for many different endings depending on who the audience selects as its suspect.
From the very beginning, "The Broadway Onstage Murders" ensure that there is no fourth wall separating the audience from the performers. There are moments when the wall is flown in like a set piece, but never for very long. It opens with a seeming curtain speech projected on the eight monitors that are checkered along the top of the stage in what they dub their patented TeeVeeStage presentation system. It explains that two new producers have taken over, producers with a disdain for how things used to be run.
Then begins the play within the play, one that teases at creating archetypes without ever fully doing so. The acting style is affected and amateurish without a touch of realism or connection between characters. Given how the performance is later described, this could be accepted as part of the device, except that when the characters do break to present the "actors" as characters, the gap between character and actor is rather small. They continue to speak in stilted tones, favoring exaggerated movements over real character choices. Even when they mingle amongst the audience, it is difficult to form any real connection with the cardboard, two-dimensional characters who lack any genuineness.
The story itself was lacking in logic and strong choices as well. It never picked a style, being too tame for a melodrama, too staid for a farce. Nor was it a straight murder mystery, as it did not have the stringent requirements of logical plot progression. There were too many inconsistencies in it. For example, one character was being blackmailed by the victim and we are told that her secret went with him to his grave, yet all of the other characters knew she hated him and didn't question that they know of no motive until it is revealed later.
Parts of the play were self-referential, blatantly appealing to its loyal audience who know the players in the theater and will appreciate the tossing in of familiar names. It had moments of self-congratulation where it replayed lines just in case you missed their importance the first time. In other places, either the script grew repetitive or the actors were lost and repeating lines.
There were some clever theatrical moments in the play, as it chose to resurrect the dead to interrogate the suspects and in the way it adopted the Agatha Christie style of denouement to reveal the ending and the solution to the mystery.
While the play is said to be set in the present, it is uncertain when the play within a play is set – sometime before cell phones. The costumes lean toward farce, choosing stronger cliches to denote archetypes than the actors or script chose.
"The Broadway Onstage Murders" comes close to being many things without ever quite reaching the mark.

REVIEW:
'The Broadway Onstage Murders'
Broadway Onstage, 21517 Kelly Rd., Eastpointe. Friday-Saturday through March 19. $16. 586-771-6333. http://www.broadwayonstage.com

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