Moonbox's "39 Steps": Fool-Proof Spoof

The Entire Cast of "39 Steps"
(photo: Sharman Altshuler)

In 1915 British novelist John Buchan wrote a melodramatic spy story which he enigmatically entitled The 39 Steps, which proved so popular that it was made into a fine film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935 (and several subsequent remakes). That incarnation proved so successful that a staged version, written by playwright Evan George Patrick Barlow as a comedy (in the style of Monty Python), was produced in 1995 in the town of Leeds, ultimately transferring to London's West End, where it won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy. It ran for nine years, becoming London's fifth longest running play in history. A Broadway version opened in 2008 and was nominated for six Tony Awards (winning two of them for lighting and sound), but its U.S. Premiere actually occurred right here in Boston at Huntington Theatre Company about a decade ago. It is currently being performed by Moonbox Productions (which soared last season with their production of Barnum) at the Plaza Theater in the Boston Center for the Arts. This hilarious Hitchcockian (oxymoronically speaking) play is now in the able hands of Director Allison Olivia Choat and her cast of 150, count them, 150 characters (played by just four actors). But who's counting?

Kevin Cirone, Matthew Zahnzinger & Sarah Gazdowicz in "39 Steps"
(photo: Sharman Altshuler)

The central character is Richard Hannay (Kevin Cirone, the only actor to play just one role), an “ordinary man living a quiet life”, who meets a beautiful and mysterious woman, Annabella Schmidt (Sarah Gazdowicz, who also plays Pamela and Margaret) who will change his life as he copes with tragedy and determines to find a killer to exonerate himself from a murder charge. Man #1 (Matthew Zahnzinger) and Man #2 (Bob Mussett) are involved in this quest, in countless guises. And that is literally all one can reveal without ruining the whole thing.

 

 

Matthew Zahnzinger, Kevin Cirone & Bob Mussett in "39 Steps"
(photo: Sharman Altshuler)

 

Except to say that this small but huge cast is exemplary, in what seems like fluff but in point of fact is an extraordinarily challenging show to take on, especially with fang firmly in cheek.  There are allusions, verbal and musical, to much of the Hitchcock oeuvre, including Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Vertigo and North by Northwest. The more one is a fan of film, the more likely one is to get these allusions and run with them, along with an abundance of outrageous puns, sight gags and the like. In a whirlwind two hours, this ensemble manages to skewer the form and the content of the hoary old genre. Choat's direction is impeccable, with remarkable pacing. Cirone is hysterically perfect with his deer-in-the-headlights expression, while Gazdowicz, Mussett and Zahnzinger could hardly be better. Zahnzinger is a a humdinger in every scene, especially with a collapsing podium. The creative team is particularly indispensable for a work like this, from the ever-evolving Set Design by John Paul Devlin to the intricate Lighting Design by Jeffrey E. Salzberg to the hilarious Costume Design by Erica DeSautels and the complicated Sound Design by Dan Costello. Mention should also be made of the innumerable props designed by Emily Rosser.

 

 

The Entire Cast of "39 Steps"
(photo: Sharman Altshuler)

 

At one point our hero suggests he relax with“something mindless and pointless...like a visit to the theater”. Never fear, this production may be intellectually undemanding, but it's insidiously clever, funny and literate, if painfully pun-ey. In short, this 39 Steps is a fool-proof spoof. Hunt this down by all means, before its untimely end, on December 9^th.