CCAE Theatricals’ acclaimed production of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time has arrived at the Lewis Family Playhouse to dazzle audiences with a spectacular mix of thrilling storytelling, superb performances, and dazzling multimedia magic.

 An absolutely captivating Daniel Patrick Russell stars as Christopher Boone, the most unlikely of detectives about to embark on the most thrilling, harrowing, and rewarding of journeys.

 Fiction fans know Christopher as the fifteen-year-old hero of a 2003 Mark Haddon novel that, like Simon Stephens’s 2013 London stage adaptation, introduces us to the budding young Swindon mathematician without putting a name on “behavioral difficulties” that include an insistence on set routines, the inability to judge nonverbal cues, seeming emotional coldness, tantrums when touched, and a tendency to prattle on about a single subject, in Christopher’s case the murder-by-garden-fork of neighborhood dog Wellington, whose death our young hero sets out, in true Sherlock Holmes fashion, to unravel. (Indeed, Haddon’s novel takes its title from an Arthur Conan Doyle short story.)

 Playwright Simon Stephens, whose Heisenberg and Punk Rock have established him as one of England’s most dynamic, original theatrical voices, proves himself equally adept at adaptation, taking Haddon’s novel (written as Christopher’s first-person journal), managing to include just about every colorful character and unexpected plot twist, and in a stroke of inspiration, retelling it as the play Christopher has written about a “murder” investigation turned odyssey.

The Curious Incident’s original West End production, one that crossed the pond to Broadway and later toured the U.S., featured a production design made up almost entirely of what appeared to at first glance to be plain white boxes (though appearances proved deceiving).

 CCAE Theatricals takes a different, but equally imagination-blessed approach with Matthew Herman (scenic design and cinematography), Mike Billings (lighting), Blake McCarty (projections), Janet Pitcher (costumes), Peter Herman (wigs and hair), Jon Fredette (sound), Holly Lapp (properties) combining their considerable talents in a production design that serves up live-streamed videos projected to fill a massive upstage wall, a screen hanging down from the proscenium arch that features both live and prerecorded images (including animations), and inventive use of scaffolding and moveable set pieces, all of this backed by a dramatic, pulsating soundscape (original music by Maxwell Transue) and flashy lighting effects to give us glimpses into Christopher’s mind and the sensory overload he experiences throughout his journey towards the truth.

Director J. Scott Lapp not only displays prodigious imagination in creating and staging this Curious Incident from the ground up, but elicits one superb performance after another beginning with Australian triple-threat Russell, who convinces us from the get-go that he is indeed the oddest and most endearing of contemporary teen Sherlock Holmes, and don’t be surprised if this Broadway Billy Elliot has some acrobatic dance moves up his sleeve.

A radiant Allison Spratt Pearce is Christopher’s caring, nurturing teacher/mentor Siobhan, Nathan Madden is on fire as a father doing his best under the most trying of circumstances, and Melissa Glasgow does powerful work as a mother finally ready to fight like a tigress for her son.

 Multi-gifted ensemble members Drew Bradford, Melissa Fernandes, Jason Heil, Christine Hewitt, Dallas McLaughlin, and Leianna Weaver pretty much never leave the stage as the multitude of characters Christopher encounters on his journey, including the neighbors he interviews for clues, the police officers who become involved in his investigation, and the strangers he must rely on as he leaves the familiarity of home.

Not only that, but by casting this Curious Incident entirely with performers with extensive musical theater resumes, more than any other interpretation I’ve seen, this one gives its choreographer Natalie Iscovich abundant opportunities to integrate dance-inspired movement throughout the show.

Casting is by Lindsay Brooks. Swings Tucker Boyes and Jodi Marks do double duty as camera operators. Glasgow is dance captain and Heil is fight captain.

Caitlin Muelder is dialect coach. Marcy Fibrow is autism consultant. Phil Gold is production stage manager and Megan Reed is assistant stage manager and animal handler.

With so much going for it, it’s no wonder CCAE’s The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time is currently nominated for a whopping eight San Diego Theatre Critics Circle awards for its original Escondido run in early 2024.

That audiences closer to home now get the chance to see what all the raves have been about is the best possible New Year’s gift.

Simply put, productions don’t get any more spectacular than this.

Lewis Family Playhouse, Victoria Gardens Cultural Center, 12505 Cultural Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga. Through February 2. Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30. Saturdays at 2:00 and 7:30. Sundays at 2:00
www.theatricals.org

–Steven Stanley
January 19, 2025
Photos: Karli Cadel

Tags: CCAE Theatricals, Lewis Family Playhouse, Los Angeles Theater Review, Mark Haddon, Simon Stephens