“Contrast” might be the byword of the Cincinnati Playhouse’s production of Dial M for Murder. It’s a stylish noir murder mystery with numerous twists and turns. Inspired by (but evolved from) Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 cinematic thriller of the same name in terms of style — lots of abrupt dramatic shifts from angular darkness to brilliant light — there are also dramatic contrasts between the characters.
Teresa Zimmermann plays Margot Wendice, and Geena Quintos is her lover, the rising novelist Maxine Hadley. (The lesbian relationship is part of Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of the story from the 1950s, and he’s kept it in that era.) The contrast between the women is marked. Zimmerman’s Margot is a statuesque blonde and a tad naïve. Her inherited wealth has prevented her from being very worldly. As Maxine, Quintos is shapely, petite with dark hair with an angular white streak. She is knowing, with a quick mind. Their affair is a year in the past, but the chemistry is still there.
Margot’s husband, Tony (Brandon Hearnsberger), is Maxine’s publicist. He’s superficially charming, but Hearnsberger quickly gives him subtext that radiates a scheming, manipulative and self-serving character. In the show’s second scene, he recruits Lesgate (Justin McCombs) and forces him to carry out Margot’s murder for her infidelity — but in reality mostly for her fortune. Tony has coldly calculated every minuscule detail of how this will happen, a perfect plan.
But of course this is a mystery, so we can anticipate that things won’t go quite as Tony has imagined, resulting in Margot becoming a murder suspect. Coping with his plan going off the rails is the engine that drives the rest of Dial M for Murder, as we watch him repeatedly and desperately try to patch the holes in the narrative he has conceived. In the second act, Hubbard (Barry Mulholland), an oh-by-the-way Scotland Yard inspector, subtly reassembles the pieces.
The contrasts between the characters are as stark as Yuki Nakase Link’s lighting design and Mikaal Sulaiman’s soundtrack of moody accents and spiky jazz melodies. Margot is stronger than we might have imagined, Maxine is more devious and Tony is ultimately the victim of his own cleverness. Lesgate’s anxiety is not what we might have expected, and Hubbard is clever beneath a disarming exterior.
Director Tatiana Pandiani moves them around the sleek mid-century modern London apartment (Marcelo Martinez Garcia strategically designed the show’s singular setting with frosted windows, a steep staircase and angular, shadow-casting walls), paying attention to who has the upper hand at any given moment, a focus that keeps shifting. Just when you think you know which way things are going, there’s a right-angle turn. We are constantly reminded that murder is at the heart of this riveting story — the set is overhung with immense, blood-red, glowing letters, M-U-R-D-E-R — but this is not a whodunit. Instead, it’s a “who’s-gonna-get-away-with-it?”
This is a co-production with Houston’s Alley Theatre, where it was presented earlier in the summer. Hearnsberger, Zimmermann and Quintos performed it there. But for the Playhouse production, McCombs and Mulholland, veterans from Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, step right up with their crucial roles as the catalyst and the puzzle-solver. Together the five cast members are a tight, polished ensemble, all stylishly dressed in mid-50s attire (designed by Rodrigo Muñoz).
The Playhouse has launched its 2024-2025 season earlier than usual: Dial M for Murder will wrap up in mid-September. It’s good to have a satisfying, thought-provoking thriller to get the ball rolling.
Dial M For Murder, presented by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, continues through Sept. 15. More info: cincyplay.com.
