By Staff
special to The Star
July 13, 2003
Set in Monte Carlo in the early 1960s, "Without a Hitch" is an original interactive murder mystery play written by Steven Biggs and Michael Coleman.
The script takes a sometimes dark and always hilarious look at murder in the style of an Alfred Hitchcock film.
Honeymooning Americans Doris and Alfred Lehman are caught in a world of international intrigue, gambling with the highest stakes and homicide.
The script is a spoof of and a tribute to Hitchcock, relying on 1950s and 1960s prototypes of Hitchcock characters from seedy low-lifes, to elegant criminals, to the innocent' Midwestern honeymooners.
You'll find yourself in the the Caf Le Chat, in the lavish but intimate Hotel d' Auteur in Monte Carlo, among characters that include:
Ronnie Miller as Inspector Claude Truffaut, a Monte Carlo police inspector who has read too many Hercule Poirot novels.
Anson Norwood as James Anthony, the owner of the Cafe Le Chat. Elegant and classy. But is he on the right side of the law?
Lisa Carruth as Rebecca DuMaurier, the Chanteuse of the Cafe, beautiful but with a volcanic temper.
Sissy Weems as Doris Lehman, a naive American honeymooner, spunky and good humored.
Derek Pouncey as Alfred Lehman, Doris's husband, a driving instructor from small town America, caught up in circumstances beyond his control.
Todd Brand as Uncle Morty, Doris's loud, obnoxious, but good-natured uncle from New York.
Not yet cast is Hermann Waxman, the blackjack dealer at the Cafe, trying hard to look slick.
Not yet cast is Eva Santa Maria, a waitress who has seen it all, and who has a heart of gold … maybe.
In recent years, it has been performed to sold-out houses in San Diego, Seattle and Minneapolis each time drawing rave reviews.
See how many Hitchcock references you can spot from "The Birds," "North by Northwest," "Psycho," "The Thirty-Nine Steps," and many more.
Just make sure to keep your eyes open and your wits about you, because there's a murder to be solved before the fiend can strike again.