By CRAIG HIGGINS
The Progress
The Moapa Valley High School (MVHS) Theatre Department wrapped up a successful production last week as the program presented John Bishop’s The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 in the school’s Ron Dalley Theatre. A large audience turnout throughout the three night run of the play matched the high level of the performance.
Notables in the audience included Ron Dalley himself. While Big Band-era swing music wafted over the PA speakers in the moments before the play, Dalley discussed performance and stagecraft with his daughter and Murder’s director Dr. Kenna Higgins.
“It took a minute to build,” she said in reference to the Byzantine array of frames, bookcases, and trap doors comprising the stage.
Dalley expressed concerns about turnout for future high school productions. “There ought to be more people coming out to see these shows,” he said. “Audiences should support the youth, and the quality of the production and effort.”
The play’s setting was early ‘40s Chappaqua, New York, a real town perhaps better known nowadays as politician Hillary Clinton’s primary residence. The youthful cast brilliantly captured the hopefulness of an era which would come to an abrupt halt at Pearl Harbor just a year later. Period costumes and an obsession with martini glasses and Old Hollywood accents called to mind classic film tropes of the era.
And the stage – described by Dr. Higgins as a character itself – contributed to the at-times moody atmospherics of the play. With its swooped arches and faux-stained glass panel sitting forlornly in the center, the backdrop resembled a vampire’s spreading arms and billowing cape when the lights went out.
All that said, Murder moved the audience on the back of its talented cast – the actors brought this production to life.
Standouts included Madison Johnston’s turn as multiple members of both genders from the same murderous German family. Wearing the same black maid-servant’s costume with a wild collection of wigs differentiating between characters, Johnston flashed comedic wit and delivered a devastatingly funny “Mittel-European” accent. She also displayed considerable finesse in the excellently-choreographed fight scenes. For older readers, imagine a young Teri Garr riffing on Peter Sellers’s performance in Doctor Strangelove while throwing a mean right hook, and you get the idea.
Other standouts included Romeo Elenes as a not-especially brave comedian; Beverly Potts as a martini-swilling socialite; and Laurana Bush as an undercover Naval Intelligence operative.
The comedic- and budding romantic chemistry between Elenes’s and Bush’s characters formed a nice thread throughout various double-crosses, identity reveals and, yes, murders which occured throughout the production – the source material lived up to its salacious title.
Despite a long runtime, Murders moved at a quick clip, with the entire cast pulling its weight and then some.
The performance even made room for topical themes of gender and sexuality. The snide innuendos from Landon Coplan’s barely-in-the-closet Ivy League graduate elicited knowing laughter from the crowd.
And one of Johnston’s best moments in the show came when she played a de-wigged crossdresser/killer performing an English rendition of Edith Piaf’s classic tune La Vie en Rose complete with a spotlight trailing her every move.
While last semester’s production of Twelve Angry Jurors displayed a fine effort, Murders brought out the best in the troupe and production team. These young actors, costumers, and backstage crew are hungry to do well, and getting better at their craft. This production will hopefully set the stage for future triumphs to follow.
