BWW Reviews: SHERLOCK Drops Some Knowledge on Cincinnati

Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park started their new season off with Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club. The Playhouse started this new season exactly like they ended last season, pretty great. Sherlock is a great way to start a season; not only was it thoroughly enjoyable but the cast was stellar as well.

Since this is my first review of the season, I say we start with the good. No Sherlock movie, TV show or play would be anything without a solid Sherlock and Steven Hauck is just that. Hauck is able to easily glide between comedy and drama. His comedic timing is spot on and when he needs to get to the nitty gritty of the plot, you can see his body and spirit shift to serious. There are times when Sherlock is suppose to be unintentionally funny but Hauck played those moments up as to let the audience in on the joke. As someone that has seen many different actors portray Sherlock, it was still refreshing to watch Hauck work. Another great actor in this play is Douglas Rees, who was hilarious as Watson. I found myself asking if Watson is always the comic relief of the Sherlock series because it seemed so fitting for his character. The rest of the cast all belong in the good column as well because there was no weak link. They all handled their accents well (although I could have done without the volume of the Inspector's character voice) and stood their ground up against Hauck. The set, lighting and music were all also spot on and definitely added to my enjoyment of the show.

There isn't much to put in the bad column because this was a solid production. The only things that took my mind out of the play were the very beginning of the play and the end. It takes about 5-8 minutes too long for this show to get into the actual plot. For about 3 minutes, I was actually bored but when what was to be the plot was revealed there was not a boring period again... Except that is towards the very end of the play. It's the scene where everything is revealed so you'd think it wouldn't feel like it was dragging on forever but that's what it felt like. There were too many monologues in the scene (seriously, every character in that scene got one and there were about 5 character there). Take away those two moments and this play would have been pretty flawless.

Overall, I would highly suggest checking out this first offering from the Playhouse. You'll will find yourself playing along to the "Whodunit" the whole time.

Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club runs through October 4th at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and is directed by KJ Sanchez.

Photo By: Sandy Underwood

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