Review: THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME at The Bushnell

Intense is one word to describe The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which opened last night at The Bushnell in Hartford, Connecticut. Mesmerizing is another. The Broadway play by Simon Stephens (stemmed from the Mark Haddon novel) awed its audience with its intelligence, enthusiasm, and electric lights display. Of course the opening scene with a gardening fork dug into a dead dog reeled onlookers in, too.

The story revolves around a young autistic boy, named Christopher Boone (Adam Langdon) who is borderline genius in science but lacks proper social interaction. After being accused of killing his neighbor's dog, he stops at nothing to find out who the real killer is to prove his innocence - no matter how many times his father tells him not to.

As Christopher plays detective, his journey leads him to uncovering the truth of much more than who killed the dog next door. With an uncertain world ahead of him, he is faced with many difficult challenges that leads him to wondering who to trust.

With its stimulating stage set and extreme sound system, the crowd gets inside the head of Christopher and his mental disorder, allowing for both an entertaining and insightful journey that lasts well after the show.