Review - Arsenic and Old Lace (Originally posted November 9, 2009)

This time around it’s ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’. It’s a comedy about Mortimer Brewster who discovers his two elderly aunts are actually mass murders who have killed 12 lonely men and buried them in their basement. Mortimer needs to find a way to stop his aunts, deal with his crazy brother who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt while fending off his sadistic and also murderous brother Jonathan who has returned home. Meanwhile he is trying to keep his love interest Elaine from finding out his aunts are killers. Sound confusing? Yep it sure is. That’s the charm of this classic. This was originally a movie/screenplay that stared Cary Grant, Boris Karloff, and Peter Lorre that came out in 1944.

I saw this at Northwestern University, at their Theatre and Interpretation Center in Evanston. The stage was set all in pinks, whites and blacks which gave everything a homey but dark look. It was nice enough to be friendly but had an underlining tone of evil. It was pretty but a little creepy which was perfect for this show.

Their production did a great job of sticking to the original story that was from the screenplay. The characters were the same and the situations that Mortimer found him self in equally the same. The cast (in order of appearance) consisted of:

• Reverend Dr. Harper………..Matt Edmonds
• Abby Brewster……………...Cindy Gold
• Martha Brewster…………….Mary Poole
• Teddy Brewster……………..Brad Akin
• Elaine Harper………………..Betsy Hogg
• Mortimer Brewster…………..Jefferson Grubbs
• Jonathan Brewster…………...Kevin Fugaro
• Einstein……………………...John Mohrlein
• Officer Brophy……………...Will Kazda
• Officer Klein………………...Peter Hegal
• Lieutenant Rooney…………..Dennis Zacek
• Mr. Witherspoon…………….Matt Edmonds

While I did like the play and will forever love the movie there were a couple of things that were lost a bit. Jefferson Grubbs who played Mortimer and Kevin Fugaro who played Jonathan did antiquate jobs however they were no where near as rich as the performances of Cary Grant and Boris Karloff, respectively. Which was too bad because they did good jobs but they were some big shoes to fill and while I was thinking of not holding them up to that level of excellence I decided that if you have chosen a known character to portray then you must expect yourself to live up to that character. They just did not remind me of what I remembered Mortimer and Jonathan were like.
Brad Akin who played Teddy and John Mohrlein who played Einstein were very funny in their roles. Teddy is a regular favorite in the move and Akin did a great job of playing him. Every time he went up the stairs; “Charge!” Mohrlein was out standing as Einstein. I couldn’t believe it but I actually like his portrayal of Einstein better than Peter Lorre’s.

One performance that I was impressed with was Dennis Zacek as Lieutenant Rooney. Rooney was the consummate New York Gumshoe complete with shoulder draped trench-coat, wide-brim fedora and oversized cigar hanging from his mount that he would occasionally pluck out to accentuate his lines. He used plenty of ‘Yeahs’, ‘Rights’ and ‘Uh-huh’. I found him very funny and unexpected. He only comes on toward the end of the play and his time is very short. But he is very good.

And finally the Aunts. Cindy Gold and Mary Poole played Abby and Martha respectively. Their performances were top-notch. I loved the two of them. They took their roles and owned them. The completely made them selves the roles. They were the highlight of the show. They are the first characters you meet and the last you see at the end. For the duration of that time they keep throwing out there performances that make their characters sweet and funny but still seeming to evil in a very subtle way. The performances of these two ladies could not have been better.

While I am taking some off for the performances of Mortimer and Jonathan most of my experience at this play was great. As I said some of the other performances were incredible. I take into account that for the two and a half hours I was there I had a good time. I enjoyed myself. So I’m giving this play 9 out of 10. I look forward to going up to Northwestern again and seeing those two remarkable ladies (Gold and Poole) in something else.