West End audiences have been keeping the murderer’s identity top secret for a record-breaking 27,000-plus performances, and now Angelinos can check out Crown City Theatre Company’s spiffy revival of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap to see why 65 years’ worth of Londoners keep on going back for more.

 My guess is you too will be taken by surprise when (insert name here) is revealed to be a double murderer on the way to victim number three since who else but The Queen Of Crime herself could come up with a puzzle as tricky, twisted, and tantalizing as the one involving guesthouse owners Giles and Molly Ralston (Bobby Slaski and Megan Cochrane) and the half-dozen fellow suspects who’ve arrived at Monkswell Manor for its grand-opening weekend.

A voice-over prologue sets the scene, a radio news bulletin reporting the murder of a certain Maureen Lyon by a man seen in the vicinity wearing a dark overcoat, light scarf, and soft felt hat, a description matching not just the outfit we first see Giles sporting but the clothes worn by just about every other guesthouse arrival on this snowy winter’s day,

There’s Christopher Wren (Hans Obma), a hyperactive, neurotic young architect on the run from only he knows what; Mrs. Boyle (Mouchette van Helsdingen), an imperious, bad-tempered dowager none too pleased by Giles and Molly’s inexperience in the guesthouse biz; Major Metcalf (AJ Abrams), whose military bearing would suggest a retired Army officer even if his title did not; Miss Casewell (Riegan Sage), an aloof, trouser-suited young woman whose mannish ways may reveal a fondness for the ladies; unexpected guest Mr. Parvacini (Michael Mullen), whose heavy Italian accent may well be as fake as the wrinkles on his obviously made-up face; and Detective Sergeant Trotter (Tavis L. Baker), sent over by the local police to ensure the safety of the Monkswell Manor guests, at least one of whom could be the murderer’s next victim.

 As just about every mystery fiction reader will tell you, no one has ever matched Agatha Christie’s mastery at planting clues so cleverly masked that only detectives as sharp as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple can spot them amidst multiple red herrings and The Mousetrap is no exception.

In other words, if you’re anything like this reviewer, you’ll find yourself suspecting just about everyone but the actual murderer whoever he or she might be.

 Director Sonny Lira recognizes (as the recently, atrociously remade Murder On The Orient Express did not) that when staging Dame Agatha, tone is everything, and his all-around terrific cast prove themselves expert at creating classic Christie characters that could in less adept hands prove over-the-top stereotypes but here earn chuckles of recognition at their quintessentially British foibles and Parvacini’s foreign idiosyncrasies.

That a number of characters have been cast with actors who read rather a bit too young (or too old) for their roles might not matter were age not a significant factor in determining the murderer’s identity, but this is a relatively minor quibble, so spot-on are performances on Joanne Lamb’s niftily decorated guesthouse set.

 Cochrane and Slaski’s Molly and Giles are a couple of romcom-ready charmers; van Helsdingen is a dry delight as the haughty, deliciously ill-tempered Mrs. Boyle; Abrams vanishes inside Major Metcalf’s straightlaced military skin; Sage manages to be “manly” (Christie’s word to describe Miss Casewell) while not losing her feminine allure; Mullen steals scenes right and left as the flamboyant Mr. Parvacini; Baker’s Cockney sergeant provides a breath of fresh air amongst more cultivated guests, and most memorably of all, Obma takes a (probably gay) stereotype and makes him the evening’s quirkiest, most watchable suspect.

 Sound designer Joe Shea’s musical underscoring has a just-right whodunnit feel, Mullen’s costumes are as always period-perfect gems, and production manager Zad Potter’s lighting is topnotch as well.

Casting is by assistant to the director Reneé Cohen. Patrick Stayter is fight choreographer. Michael Pammit is house manager.

 The Mousetrap may be retirement-age old but as its world-record West End run makes abundantly clear, it’s not yet ready to be put out to pasture. Check out Crown City’s latest for Agatha Christie at her mysterious best.

Click here for December 22 update.

Crown City Theater, 11031 Camarillo St., North Hollywood.
www.crowncitytheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
April 14, 2018
Photos: April Costello

Tags: Agatha Christie, Crown City Theatre Company, Los Angeles Theater Review