The Glen Arbor Players and director Don Kuehlhorn are kickin’ it old school in their next production, “Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily,” using an old-timey radio show format to present this new Holmes comedy/mystery by contemporary Seattle actor and playwright Katie Forgette.
The play combines historical real people with fictional ones. Lily Langtry, the famous American actress, and Oscar Wilde, the famous British author, are dear friends. When Mrs. Langtry is blackmailed over intimate letters she and the Duke of Windsor exchanged, Oscar Wilde brings in his friend Sherlock Holmes to catch the blackguard. With Holmes come other fictional characters like Dr. Watson, Professor Moriarty, and various accomplices. A few cast members play more than one character, and one character even plays more than one character. An announcer assists in sorting them out and narrating the action. Like in the days of radio plays, the actors use their voices to make the characters and plot real.
Letters from a years-ago love affair with the Prince of Wales threaten scandal for Mrs. Langtry, but there’s more to the story, and the very Crown seems threatened before the real demand is discovered. Secondrate criminals are behind the blackmail scheme, but there’s more to that story too.
The audience will enjoy references to Oscar Wilde’s work inserted into the play, like his struggle with the title of a play in progress,” The Importance of Being Forthright” and an audition for the role of one Lady Bracknell. A bit of Shakespeare is in there too.
Cast members will be familiar to the GAP audience. Ron Smith, who plays Sherlock Holmes, said, “I’ve always wanted to play Sherlock, but I thought I wasn’t tall enough.” Happily, that notion is dispelled. Jean Jenkins plays three characters, including Katy DuPree, who insists that she is a “villainess,” not a villain, and a villainous villainess she is. Susanne Meserve, the narrator, admitted, “I get to giggling at some of the funny lines. Have to stifle that when we have an audience.” Janet Stipicevich is Mrs. Langtry, Brian Iler is Professor Moriarty, Larry Hebert is Oscar Wilde, and Pete LaPlaca is Dr. Watson. Pete enthusiastically proclaimed, “I have been a Sherlockian for most of my life, and this play has it all: a great plot involving two of the most famous people of that era as well as the British royal family, the archvillain Moriarty, a sword fight, and the brilliance of Sherlock to solve the case! It is a fast-moving play with many twists, turns, and surprises along with some very funny lines.”
Director Don Kuehlhorn also appears onstage to play Smythe, Moriarty’s easily duped errand boy. In his director’s capacity, Don poses a mystery of his own, in addition to the one in the play’s plot. “How do you perform a stage play on the radio? We’ll find out!” Both mysteries will be solved for the audience’s entertainment at 7:30 p.m., Thursday – Saturday, October 31st and November 1st and 2nd at the Glen Lake Community Church, 4902 W. MacFarlane Rd, Glen Arbor 49636. Refreshments will be served. A minimum $10 good-cause donation is welcomed with thanks.
