A killer performance: Riverside’s “Murder on the Orient Express” impresses

The current adaptation of the play was written by Ken Ludwig on behalf of the estate of Agatha Christie. (Photo courtesy of Riverside/Suzanne Carr Rossi)

Agatha Christie is synonymous with crime fiction, and the Riverside Center For the Performing Arts has taken on one of her most famous novels for its latest production. Murder on the Orient Express is a wild ride on the famous train, featuring a cast of eccentric characters who are not always what they seem.

The current adaptation was written by Ken Ludwig on behalf of the Agatha Christie Estate and premiered in 2017 at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ.

The entire Riverside cast delivers excellent performances, and even though the accents may seem a little inconsistent, the charm of each character soon overcomes any reservations and draws the audience deep into this complex plot.

Kevin Cleary is unforgettable as the stylish Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Cleary is a frequent actor on the Riverside stage and his ability to take on different roles serves him well here. You can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he works out a series of surprising twists to solve the murder.

An excellent counterpart to Cleary's character is the train conductor Monsieur Bouc, played here by Brent Deekens. Deekens is new to Riverside, copes well with the character, who is much older, and provides many nice comic moments.

Also notable are the double roles of Alan Hoffman, who plays a vulgar American in his portrayal of Samuel Ratchett, and the passenger – Colonel Arbuthnot – with a slight Scottish accent. He plays both so convincingly that I had to check the theatre programme twice to make sure it was the same actor.

Andrea Kahane, a frequent performer on the Riverside stage, plays the devious Helen Hubbard. She uses the Midwestern accent she used as Aunt Em in The Wizard of Oz and is loud and funny in her role here.

The rest of the cast can also keep up with these strong characters: Valerie Chinn as Mary Debenham, Colby LeRoy as Hector MacQueen, Cam Hovey as Conductor Michel, Kathy Halenda as Princess Dragomiroff, Stephanie Wood as Greta Ohlsson and Sheri Hayden as Countess Andrenyi.

The Riverside production team's innovative staging helped move the story from a cafe in Istanbul, across the platform to various scenes on the train. Strobe lights to Khachaturian's Sabre Dance are used very effectively, and there is clever choreography at the end of the first act, leaving the audience on a cliff just before the interval.

If you're craving a good crime thriller this summer, be sure to watch Murder on the Orient Express before it leaves the station for the last time.

When you go

“Murder on the Orient Express,” Riverside Center for the Performing Arts, 95 Riverside Parkway, Fredericksburg
Runs through September 8. Tickets are $55-$82 and available online here.