MS. HOLMES & MS. WATSON–APT. 2B

Even the finest theaters can be permitted a major misfire from time to time, and such is the case with International Theatre Company’s 2025 season closer, Kate Hammill’s Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson–Apt. 2B.

 It’s easy to see why Hammill’s spoofy distaff take on Sherlock Holmes might have appealed to ICT.

Like The 39 Steps, Around The World In 80 Days, and last season’s Murder On The Links, Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson–Apt. 2B takes a popular tale of mystery and/or adventure, puts a wacky comedic spin on it, and assigns all but its leading role(s) to two or three supporting players.

And when a comedy is as well written (and a production as well directed) as those three previous ICT hits most definitely were, it’s a guaranteed audience-pleaser.

 Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson–Apt. 2B, unfortunately, delivers more yawns than laughs.

It’s overlong and overplotted and a bit all over the place, though at least in theory it could have worked.

 Transposed from the Victorian London of Sir Arthur Conin Doyle to the just-post-pandemic spring of 2021, Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson–Apt. 2B introduces us to Joan Watson (Cheryl Daro), who has arrived at London rooming house run by Cockney landlady Mrs. Hudson (Tamarra Graham) in search of “a quiet place to get away and do some deep processing” (and maybe try out creative writing while she’s at it).

Unfortunately, given longtime tenant Sherlock Holmes’ penchant for playing classical music records at maximum volume, this may be more easily said than done.

 Enter Holmes herself (Sarah Wolter), who using her trademark skills at observation and logic, quickly determines that Ms. Watson is in fact, despite the lady’s insistent protestations, Doctor Joan Watson, MD. (The illegibility of Watson’s luggage name tag clinches it.)

And before you know it, the newly minted detective duo find themselves enlisted by Scotland Yard Inspector Lestrade (Brian Stanton) to solve “The Case of the Body in the Bathtub,” a murder Holmes quickly deduces must be the work of a red-headed anarchist named Rachel. (Let the search for the killer begin.)

And that’s only the first of two major cases Holmes and Watson find themselves enlisted to solve as Act Two introduces us to glamorous lady-of-the-night Irene Adler (Graham again) and the Texas tech billionaire (Stanton as Elliot Monk) she’s been blackmailing with a tape of the two of them doing the nasty, though Irene’s reaction to the statuesque and stunning Sherlock suggests her romantic interests may lie more with the ladies than the gents (and Holmes’s as well).

Not only does this second case mean that the two-and-a-half-hour-long Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson–Apt. 2B overstays its welcome by at least thirty minutes, at ICT it also means sitting through another hour or so of Scenery Chewing for Laughs, just one reason why Watson’s suddenly dramatic Act Two monolog is so tonally at odds with everything else in what is supposed to be a comedic farce, it feels as if we are suddenly and inexplicably watching a completely different play.

I’m not sure that Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson–Apt. 2B would work better even if played straight (or at least straight-ish), but the broader-is-better approach director Amie Farrell has opted for most definitely does not, and it’s a particular shame because I don’t think I’ve ever not raved about the performances Wolter, Daro, Graham, and Stanton have delivered in the past.

And it doesn’t help that Maren Taylor keeps the lights turned down way too low throughout the show, or that Destiny Manewell’s set is a cluttered eyesore (perhaps deliberately so, but still).

 Kimberly DeShazo’s costumes, at least, are her usual topnotch creations and the same can be said about Patty Briles’ multitude of properties, Anthony Gagliardi’s character-defining hair and wigs, and Dave Mickey’s bouncy sound design.

Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson–Apt. 2B is produced by caryn desai. Harold Kast is technical director. Pat Loeb is production stage manager and Filisha Jones is assistant stage manager. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA, and Richie Ferris, CSA. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

Whether it’s the play itself or the production it’s been given at International City Theatre or more likely a combination of both, Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson–Apt. 2B ends up a big disappointment from a theater that almost always delivers the goods.

International City Theatre, Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. .
www.InternationalCityTheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
October 26, 2025
Photos: Jordan Gohara

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

 

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