Truth is indeed stranger than fiction in Michael Mitnick’s time-traveling, mind-tripping look at the Mysterious Circumstances surrounding the still unsolved death of the world’s foremost Sherlock Holmes scholar.

Was it murder or suicide?

About the only thing that’s clear at the start of this Geffen Playhouse World Premiere* is that Richard Lancelyn Green (Alan Tudyk) has been found garroted to death in his London flat.

Mysterious Circumstances then flashes back from March 27, 2004 to examine the circumstances that might have prompted someone to strangle Richard with a shoelace and the handle of a wooden spoon, or for the victim to have staged his own “murder” in a manner that would have put even the great Sherlock Holmes to the test.

We learn about Richard’s obsession with all things Sherlock in a series of one-on-ones, first with a taxi driver whom the Holmes scholar impresses with his own deductive gifts and later with a pair of gay men who find the homosexually repressed Richard strangely irresistible.

Meanwhile back in 1894, Sir Arthur (Austin Durant) informs his publisher of his intention to turn his attentions from detective fiction to matters historical and poetic even as his beloved wife Touie (Helen Sadler) battles the tuberculosis that will soon claim her life.

And if this weren’t already enough to blow a theatergoer’s mind, playwright Mitnick throws in Sherlock (Tudyk) himself to the mix, along with the ever faithful Watson (Ramiz Monsef).

Central to the mysterious circumstances surrounding Richard’s death is his pursuit of a set of previously undiscovered Conan Doyle papers worth millions and believed to be in the possession of his now elderly daughter Jean (Sadler).

When word gets out that said papers are to be auctioned off by Christie’s in direct conflict with the now deceased Dame Jean’s stated wish that they go to the British Library, it’s up to Richard and members of competing Holmes societies (The Irregulars, The Sherlockians, and the Doylians) to stop the auction.

Director Matt Shakman and a crackerjack design team keep things theatrical as all get-out (the opening scene where we first glimpse Richard’s garroted body is a stunner) as a couldn’t-be-better cast appear to be having the time of their lives in role after role, costume after costume, and wig after wig.

The more Richard’s mental state unravels, the more remarkable Tudyk’s star turn becomes, and even more so when Mitnick’s script lets him follow in some illustrious footsteps as none other than Sherlock Holmes himself.

Monsef’s sexy gay suitor and his dynamic Dr. Watson, Hugo Armstrong’s mysterious (and possibly quite dangerous) American and more, John Bobek’s entertaining Chester (among others), Leo Marks’ twin turns as Sir Arthur’s frustrated publisher and Richard’s oddball dentist, and Sadler’s heroic Touie, debilitated but still steely Dame Jean are each and every one a polished gem.

Scenic designer Brett J. Banakis’s multiple-surprise-revealing set, Elizabeth Harper’s impact-enhancing lighting, Kaitlyn Pietras and Jason H. Thompson’s mind-blowing projections, and E.B. Brooks’ centuries-spanning quick-change costumes and Janell Turley’s matching wigs and makeup are all quite sensational.

Sound designer Jonathan Snipes’ solo-violin original musical underscoring (as Holmes himself might have played it) and electrifying effects merit their own snaps as do Francis Menotti and David Kwong for their snappy illusions and Ned Mochel for his thrilling fight choreography.

Brooke Baldwin is production stage manager and Lizzie Thompson is assistant stage manager. Amy Levinson is dramaturg. Casting is by Phyllis Schuringa, CSA.

If Mysterious Circumstances’ final moments remain rather a tad too mysterious to be fully satisfying, they are perhaps as befits an Unsolved Mystery. (Producers of the upcoming Netflix reboot might want to take note.)

What counts most are the two hours that precede them, a theatrical roller-coaster ride well worth getting in line for at the Geffen.

*inspired by The New Yorker article “Mysterious Circumstances: The Strange Death Of A Sherlock Holmes Fanatic”

Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood.
www.geffenplayhouse.com

–Steven Stanley
June 20, 2019
Photos: Jeff Lorch

Tags: David Grann, Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles Theater Review, Michael Mitnik, Richard Lancelyn Green, Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle