MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS Comes to Way Off Broadway Next Month

One of Agatha Christie's most intriguing and acclaimed who dunnits comes to The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre this fall in a brand new stage adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express from Tony Award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig. The show will open on September 9th and run through the fall.

In the play, it's just after midnight and a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, the passengers rely on detective Hercule Poirot to identify the murderer - in case he or she decides to strike again.

Murder on the Orient Express was first published in 1934 and has become one of Christie's best-known works and one of Poirot's most incredible cases. As The New York Times Book Review said at the time, "The great Belgian detective's guesses are more than shrewd; they are positively miraculous."

So popular has Murder on the Orient Express become since first entering our entertainment culture, it has been adapted for film, television, games, and now the stage.

The first time the mystery appeared on the big screen was in 1974 when Albert Finney took on the role of the eccentric Belgian sleuth along with a star-studded cast that included Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Richard Widmark. The movie received six Academy Award nominations that year and saw Bergman win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

The next successful screen adaptation of the novel was for the television series Agatha Christie's Poirot in 2010, in which David Suchet - who is considered by many to be the ideal portrayal of the great detective - starred as Hercule Poirot from 1989 - 2013.

2017 saw the release of the 20th Century Fox film adaptation which had Kenneth Branagh directing and starring as Poirot in addition to a cast of Hollywood celebrities stepping into the roles of the suspects on the fateful train journey.

That same year, Ken Ludwig's stage adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express premiered at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey - making it the first time the novel had been turned into a live stage production. Since its premiere, Ludwig's adaptation has become a wildly popular production for theaters across the country.

Taking on the role of the fastidious world-famous investigator Hercules Poirot for Way Off Broadway's production is Dino P. Coppa, Sr., who has appeared in other mysteries at the theatre including Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and Clue: On Stage. Joining Coppa will be Jessica Billones as Hele Hubbard, Betsey Whitmore Brannen and Pam Neely sharing the role of Princess Dragomiroff, Brian Kaider as Constantine Bouc, Hannah Pecoraro as Greta Ohlsson, Olivia Smith as Mary Debenham, Wil Spaeth and Randy Stull sharing the role of Hector MacQueen, Steve Steele as Michel, Jordan B. Stocksdale in the dual roles of Samuel Ratchett and Colonel Arbuthnot, and Megan E. West as Countess Andrenyi.

Based on Agatha Christie's novel of the same name, the stage adaption was written by Ken Ludwig and will be directed at Way Off Broadway by Justin M. Kiska.

Murder on the Orient Express will run September 9 - November 6, 2022, with performances every Friday and Saturday evening and matinees on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Sunday of each month. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Box Office at (301) 662-6600.

To learn more about Way Off Broadway, or any of its productions, including Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, visit the theatre's website at www.wayoffbroadway.com.

The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, under the direction of the Kiska family since 2002, is now in its 28th Season of producing live theatre. Since it first opened in 1995, the theatre has been a leader in the area's theatre community, proudly bringing both classic musicals, as well as regional and area premieres to the Frederick stage. Productions have included Mary Poppins, Mamma Mia!, Disney's Beauty & the Beast, Sister Act, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Monty Python's SPAMALOT, Noises Off, The Addams Family, Les Misérables, Sunset Boulevard, Legally Blonde, Dolly Parton's 9 to 5: The Musical, Hairspray, South Pacific, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Mel Brooks' The Producers, CATS, The Wedding Singer, Evita, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, Grease, La Cage aux Folles, Guys & Dolls, Steel Magnolias, ...Forum, Lend Me a Tenor, Joseph..., Blood Brothers, Mame, and 42nd Street. In addition to its regular Mainstage season, Way Off Broadway produces a number of special events throughout the year, including family theatre productions and an annual Breakfast with Santa (and Mrs. Claus). Through its outside producing brand, WOB LIVE! Entertainment, Way Off Broadway also presents Marquee Mysteries - an interactive murder mystery series where the audience helps solve the case - not only at the theatre, but regularly on the Walkersville Southern Railroad and other venues through the area for private functions.

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