"Murder on the Orient Express" at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse -- January 17 through March 2.
Wednesday, January 17, through Saturday, March 2
Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, 1828 Third Avenue, Rock Island IL
Lauded by Broadway World for its "broadly drawn characters, exotic settings, and a spectacular murder with no shortage of suspects," the stage version of Agatha Christie's classic Murder on the Orient Express makes its debut at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse from January 17 through March 2, this delightful mystery comedy also hailed by the Hartford Courant as "a fast-moving, powerful theatrical locomotive" that "will get you to a better place, and slay you merrily en route."
In this spellbinding Christie whodunit adapted for the theatre by Tony Award nominee Ken Luwig, famous detective Hercule Poirot is called back from Istanbul to London on urgent business. He intends to book a first-class compartment on the Orient Express, run by his former friend and colleague Monsieur Bouc. Although the train is surprisingly full, but Bouc manages to secure Poirot a spot in the first-class cabin, and while aboard, Poirot meets a host of peculiar characters: an aging Russian princess; her Swedish companion; a Hungarian countess; a Minnesota housewife; a Scottish colonel; an English governess; a French conductor; a disagreeable American businessman; and his anxious secretary.
During their travels, the angry businessman Samuel Ratchett corners Poirot and demands that the detective investigate a series of ominous letters that have been sent to Ratchett, threatening his life. Poirot refuses, but after a snowdrift halts the Orient Express in its tracks, Ratchett is found stabbed multiple times in his locked train compartment. Poirot is consequently tasked by Bouc to solve the murder, as the killer could still be in their midst, and as Poirot investigates, conflicting clues and convoluted alibis lead him to dead ends. Over the course of 48 hours, will Poirot be able to solve the case of the Murder on the Orient Express?
Directing Circa '21's first 2024 presentation is venue veteran Corinne Johnson, the former St. Ambrose University theatre professor who most recently helmed the theatre's 2021 musical Disenchanted!, and whose additional area credits have included directing Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Glass Menagerie for the Mississippi Bend Players. Jeremy Littlejohn serves as Orient Exopress' production manager, with other members of Johnson's creative team including: stage manager and props designer Kendall McKasson; scenic designer and artist Becky Meissen; costume designer Bradley Robert Jensen; lighting designer Heather Hauskins; sound designer Aaron Randolph III; master carpenter Richard Baker; assistant stage manager and deck captain Emmett Boedeker; diction coach Ron May; and wig master Dianne Dye.
Hercule Poirot is being played by Circa '21 favorite Tom Walljasper, who has amassed more than 100 credits at the theatre over the decades and was recently seen in Grumpy Old Men: The Musical and Irving Berlin's White Christmas. Kyle DeFauw (Circa '21's Beauty & the Beast and Clue: The Musical) portrays Poirot's friend Bouc, and with Brad Hauskins and Sydney Richardson as understudies, Johnson's Orient Express cast is completed by Bear Manescalchi, Quinnie Rodman, Savannah Strandin, Trsiatn Tapscott, Kim VanDerGinst, Shelley Walljasper, and Micah Weese.
In addition to its 7:30 p.m. public previews on January 17 and 18, Murder on the Orient Express runs in Rock Island from January 19 through March 2, with performances on Fridays, Saturdays, and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 5:30 p.m.; and Wednesday afternoons at 1:15 p.m. All shows will be preceded by meals and pre-show entertainment by the theatre's performing wait staff of Circa '21 Bootleggers, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)786-7733 extension 2 and visiting Circa21.com.
