Theater Works' Getting Away With Murder
(out of 
)Mark S.P. Turvin
(home office) (602) 912-0117
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Reviewed 10/30/99
(out of )As is always the case when reviewing a piece by the man I worship, I feel I must warn my readers, I am a Stephen Sondheim-obsessive. I write this while listening to his and co-author George Furth's ill-fated Merrily We Roll Along. Gigantic posters of his many sophisticated musicals hang in my office, stolen from the set of a Phoenix Theatre revue. I celebrate his birthday every March 22nd, unfortunately shared with the lesser-ran Andrew Lloyd Weber. I even spent my high school and college years stalking - I mean, following him - from lectures to photo ops to Broadway openings. Knowing that I've forgiven the man his flawed and lesser works, and put him on a pedestal most reserve for religious figures, this should serve as a warning about how I react to his and Mr. Furth's latest, for want of a better word, creation currently being produced by Theater Works, Getting Away With Murder. Though it pains me to say this, despite scathing New York reviews and dreadful accounts from friends who attended its aborted run a few years back, I am surprised at how much I hate this script. Even deities have their downtime.
Remember, Mr. Sondheim is the renowned game-player who was clever enough to not just solve New York Times Crosswords in times measured in minutes, not hours, but to create a few bedeviling ones as well. His previous foray into murder mystery was the bewilderingly complex 1973 film, The Last of Sheila. Here, though, Mr. Sondheim and Mr. Furth have twisted the mysterious to fit a political agenda that is old hat to Manhattanites, and just plain uninteresting to those residing on the other sides of the Hudson and East Rivers. Seven characters, each representing one of the seven deadly sins, discovers that their group therapist has been murdered, and must reveal the culprit before being dragged into an unwanted media circus. The precept leads to the somewhat interesting offering of an 8th deadly sin, but not before the audience sits through a play that inexplicably reveals its murderer before the intermission, has many false starts and banal tricks, and characters and plot with the depth of an Andrew Lloyd Weber concoction.
Sadly, director Gerald Thomson is already in unenviable circumstances. He has hurt himself all the more, though, by loading the play with several unimpressive, or just plain bad performers. While his pacing and blocking are solid, and sometimes even creative, some of his actors are awful, and others seem stuck in their flimsy Halloween masks of characters.
The best performance comes from the dependable Thom Morrison as the new-to-the-group political consultant Martin Chisholm. He is consistent, precise, and able to carry the unworthy script at times, a great compliment. Not far behind is the hilariously comedic presentation of the gluttonous Vassili Laimorgos by Damon Dering, who wisely overplays and flourishes to spark some interest in the moribund setting. Adequate performances of paper-thin characters come from Blake Sereno, Lisa Faser, and Jennifer Erdmann. Most of the rest of the cast struggles in a losing fight with uninteresting representations of anger, envy and the often dead doctor.
Unfortunately for the largely inaudible supporting actors, the best that can be said of them is that their untimely deaths and disappearances are a welcomed blessing.
Another wonderful set and lighting design goes to waste. Gregory Jaye faithfully recreates the crumbling penthouse office of the dead doctor impressively. Though glare problems caused audience members to complain at intermission, Scott Campbell's lighting creates a good sense of mood that is not reciprocated in text and some performances. Rebecca Avery and Cris Wo offer solid work in costume and sound design.
The selling-point of this production is the Arizona premiere of a rare Sondheim/Furth non-musical work. Lovers of a failure in the vein of a Carrie or Moose Murders won't find enough here to justify the drive. Even famed-flop Merrily We Roll Along had the closing rooftop scene and rousing "Our Time" to break the hearts of audiences. The only shame of this production is that some talented acting, direction and design has been sunk into a wretched script, and mixed with some terrible performances. This is not the kind of flop that anyone can truly enjoy.
Production Details:
Getting Away With Murder by
Stephen Sondheim and George Furth
Theater Works, Peoria
(623) 815-7930
October 29th - November 28th, 1999