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Regional Reviews: Washington, D.C. Death on the Nile See Susan's review of Leopoldstadt
As much of the action takes place on board a luxurious cruise ship sailing on the Nile River, director Hana S. Sharif has joined a talented team of designers to incorporate the waves, the changing scenery on the shore, and the decorative details on board. Notably, Charles Coes and Nathan A. Roberts have created an original music and sound design, which helps to draw in the audience members and let them feel they are taking the ride along with the cast. As is usual for this genre, the plot brings together a disparate group of people in a constrained space and, when one of them is murdered, all the others become suspects. Luckily, master detective Hercule Poirot (Armando Durán) is on board and sets to work. The year is 1937, and these people have traveled to Egypt to repatriate a sarcophagus previously in the British Museum's collection. Museum official Atticus Praed (Robert Stanton) is overseeing the voyage, joined by Linnet Ridgeway (Olivia Cygan), whose late father funded Praed's research; Jacqueline de Bellefort (Katie Kleiger) and Simon Doyle (Travis Van Winkle), with whom Linnet has a complicated friendship; Salomé Otterbourne (Nancy Robinette), a grande dame with theatrical aspirations; her shy daughter Rosalie (Sumié Yotsukura); swaggering actor Septimus Troy (Eric Hissom); Praed's son Ramses (Ryan Michael Neely), who disappointed his father by pursuing medicine rather than archaeology; bookish Annabelle Pennington (Felicia Curry); and Colonel Race (Jamil A.C. Mangan), a military officer and friend of Poirot. Robinette, one of the Washington area's most beloved performers, glows as a woman who confuses her love of personal drama with having a theatrical temperament. (While Karen Perry has costumed all the women in glittering, elegantly detailed gowns and flowing pants, Robinette gets the most impressive ensembles.) Durán is perfect as the unflappable Poirot, repository of all sorts of arcane information, and Hissom is hilarious as an actor waiting for the world to appreciate his greatness. Stanton is amusingly dyspeptic, and Cygan, Kleiger, and Van Winkle nail the minutiae of their characters' tangled interactions. Alexander Dodge's set design (with such accents as chairs upholstered in zebra skin) adds to the luxe feeling of the production: a turntable allows for prompt scene changes, while other elements seem to slide effortlessly into and out of position. Kenneth Posner's lighting design and Brittany Bland's production design add to the sense that the characters are living in their own world–but the audience gets to visit. Death on the Nile runs through December 29, 2024, at Arena Stage, Mead Center for American Theater, Kreeger Theater, 1101 6th St. SW, Washington DC. For tickets and information please call 202-488-3300 or visit www.arenastage.org. Adapted by Ken Ludwig from the novel by Agatha Christie Cast: |
