Review: SOMETHING'S AFOOT at The 5th Avenue Theatre

Curating a season is not an easy thing, especially for a large, professional theater.  You want to strike that delicate balance of diversity, entertainment, cutting edge, and most of all audience appeal.  But when the 5th Avenue Theater announced they were doing “Something’s Afoot”, an old show often done by community theaters, I was perplexed.  But maybe it’s good, I mean, I’ve never seen it.  Sadly, it’s not.

This show from James McDonald, David Vos, Robert Gerlach, and Ed Linderman is basically a bad rip off of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”.  They even have an ode to her in one of the final songs.  So, we have a weekend at a spooky mansion, the storm has stranded the invited guests and staff, and one by one they all keep getting killed. 

The show itself is mediocre at best, with old and tired jokes, an ending that made little to no sense, and simplistic and repetitive songs.  How many times can you create a rhyme by repeating the same word?  But then I shouldn’t be surprised it feels dated, as it was originally produced in 1972 and then went to Broadway in 1976 where it played for less than two months.  Since then, it’s mostly found itself relegated to community theaters.  Nothing against community theaters but I expect a higher caliber of shows from the 5th Avenue. 

But Artistic Director and director of the show Bill Berry, picked this one for some reason.  Did he want a musical, murder mystery, comedy?  I can think of better ones.  Plus, they already have the play of “Clue” coming later this season, so the choice is even more perplexing.  But not as perplexing as his staging.  Berry repeatedly seemed to stage the show so only people viewing it from dead center could see everything.  He staged a murder where the left and right sides of the stage were flanked with people so I couldn’t even see who was being killed.  Another murder was done with a set piece that was so far stage right and behind other furniture, that I didn’t even know it was there.  And his repeated use of one spot on the upper landing where house left and house right were obscured by two large chandeliers left me baffled.  I know you can’t always stage so everyone has a good sightline, but this staging felt lazy and myopic. 

The only two saving graces of the show were the gorgeous set from Carey Wong with several hidden booby traps, and the stellar cast assembled to perform this sow’s ear.  Porscha Shaw, Brandon O’Neill, Jason Weitkamp, Ashley Lanyon, Yusef Seevers, Adam Standley, Anne Allgood, Allen Fitzpatrick, Sarah Rudinoff, and Jonathan Luke Stevens are all fine performers with great voices.  Many of them are the cream of the crop of Seattle theater.  And all of them camp their respective murder mystery tropes to the nth degree making this piece at least bearable.  Rudinoff is giving off some delightful Miriam Margolyes vibes as the detective.  Almost all the cast gets their own “I’m randy as hell” song (the few decent songs in the show) and make the most of them.  Especially Allgood and Standley who were killing theirs.  And Fitzpatrick’s (SPOILER ALERT) eventual death is a thing of beauty.  But even their wonderful performances couldn’t completely pull this one out of mediocrity for me.

This show missed the mark for me but more than that perplexed me as to why they were even doing it.  And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give “Something’s Afoot” at the 5th Avenue Theatre a confused and disappointed MEH.  I expect more from our professional houses.

“Something’s Afoot” performs at the 5th Avenue Theatre through March 24th.  For tickets or information visit them online at www.5thavenue.org.

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