CCP’s ‘Murder On The Orient Express’ Takes Audience On Comedic Adventure
By: Betsy Reason
In a scene from Carmel Community Players’ “Murder on the Orient Express,” Col. Arbuthnot (Jeffrey Stratford, front center) comes to the aid of Mary Debenham (Olivia Carrier, left) with help from the Countess (Viviana Quinones Fabre) in front of onlookers Greta Ohlsson (Nicole Sherlock), Helen. Hubbard (Vickie Phipps), Hercule Poirot (Larry Adams) and Princess Dragomiroff (Cathie Morgan) in the murder-mystery-comedy that opens Friday at The Cat in Carmel.
Samuel Ratchett (Tim Latimer, from left), Hercule Poirot (Larry Adams), Hector MacQueen (Jonathan Young), Countess Andrenyi (Viviana Quinones Fabre) and Monsieur Bouc (Earl Campbell)
Carmel Community Players’ production of “Murder on the Orient Express” features cast members Mohamed Amin (back, from left), Jonathan Young, Jeffrey Stratford, assistant director Samantha Kelly and director Lori Raffel; Larry Adams (middle, from left), Viviana Quinones Fabre, Vickie Phipps, Cathie Morgan; and Nicole Sherlock (back, from left), Olivia Carrier and Earl Campbell. The show opens Friday at The Cat.
This is not the “Murder on the Orient Express” play that people will expect.
“Don’t get me wrong. I love Agatha Christie, but she has a tendency to take herself and her characters very seriously,” said show director Lori Raffel of Carmel.
While directing the original version of “Murder on the Orient Express” did not really appeal to Raffel, doing Ken Ludwig’s version of “Murder on the Orient Express” got her excited to direct the show.
Patrons already know they’ll get a good mystery, she said, “But these characters are fun and don’t take themselves too seriously.”
She said, “They certainly make me laugh during every run of the show.”
The Carmel Community Players (CCP) show opens Friday and continues a total of seven performances through Aug. 13 at The Cat in Carmel.
This play is popular. In fact, it’s the most highly produced comedy-mystery.
That’s maybe why 55 people auditioned for the 11 roles of the show.
“I think it is because people know the story and you can’t go wrong with Agathie Christie and Ken Ludwig,” said Raffel, who has seen “Murder on the Orient Express” a few times but wasn’t drawn to it until she read Ludwig’s version.
While the show is not nonstop laughter and in the end it is about a murder, “the characters are given a fresh look and feel and it’s fun,” she said.
Every character is unique and has his or her own quirks.
This is Raffel’s 31st show to direct at CCP, and she couldn’t be happier about the cast she chose.
“This cast is amazing,” Raffel said. “The entire rehearsal process has been made easier by everyone being ‘off book’ (lines memorized) quickly, and we have had fun experimenting with each character. I love a cast who comes in every rehearsal with ideas about their character, and that’s what this group has been.”
Her cast and crew — who have put in so much time and effort for this show — and all of their enthusiasm and dedication, she said, never cease to amaze her.
The show has a wonderful balance of murder, mystery and comedy.
The play is set in the 1930s on the Orient Express with a train full of suspects and an alibi for each one. It’s the perfect whodunit mystery for Detective Hercule Poirot who takes it upon himself to solve the most thrilling case in his career.
Raffel said the show has great costumes and great hair.
“It hasn’t been easy to make the ‘Orient Express’ with a community theater budget, but that’s where creativity comes in.”
So she urges folks to come to the show and see for yourselves.
What’s the key to good comedy?
Raffel said, “The key to good comedy, I think, is to make it look effortless. Never look like you are trying to make the audience laugh. If the script is good and the actor has a great imagination, that’s half the battle.”
Raffel grew up in Carmel and got the theater bug while acting in productions at Carmel High School with Mr. Fox. “I think we are very blessed to have a community that embraces the arts,” she said. Raffel went on to earn a degree in theater at Indiana University.
Until this year, she served on the CCP board of directors for 24 years in various capacities.
Raffel said, “And I decided to step back and just do what I love the most — direct.”
Coming up, CCP’s Fundraising Gala offers two nights of fun, featuring a live performance of “Jerry’s Girls” — featuring CCP performers Heather Hansen, Jill O’Malia, Vickie Phipps, Susan Smith, Georgeanna Teipen and Diane Tsao — at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 18 and 19 at Woodland Country Club in Carmel, with hors d’oeuvres, cash bar and silent auction. For tickets to the current play or to the fundraiser, visit carmelplayers.org.
Want TO GO?
What: Carmel Community Players presents Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig, directed by Lori Raffel of Carmel.
When: Aug. 4-13, 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays (Aug. 4, 5, 11, 12) and Thursday (Aug. 10), 2:30 p.m. Sundays (Aug. 6 and 13).
Where: The Cat in Carmel, 254 Veterans Way, Carmel.
How much: $18 for adults, $16 for ages 62 and older, students and military.
Tickets: https://carmelplayers.org/ or 317-815-9387.
What else: Carmel Community Players’ Fundraising Gala offers two nights of fun, at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 18 and 19 featuring a live performance of “Jerry’s Girls,” at Woodland Country Club in Carmel, with hors d’oeuvres, cash bar and silent auction. For tickets, visit carmelplayers.org
MEET THE CAST
Hercule Poirot – Larry Adams, PIttsboro
Monsieur Bouc – Earl Campbell, Noblesville
Mary Debenham – Olivia Carrier, Indianapolis
Hector MacQueen – Jonathan Young, Fishers
Michel the Conductor – Mohamed Amin, Carmel
Princess Dragomiroff – Cathie Morgan, Carmel
Greta Ohlsson – Nicole Sherlock, Indianapolis
Countess Andrenyi – Viviana Quinones Fabre, Indianapolis
Helen Hubbard – Vickie Phipps, Carmel
Colonel Arbuthnot – Jeffrey Stratford, Carmel
Samuel Ratchett – Tim Latimer, Indianapolis
-Betsy Reason writes about people, places and things in Hamilton County. Contact The Times Editor Betsy Reason at betsy@thetimes24-7.com.