THE LOS ANGELES TIMES RAVES ABOUT
THE 39 STEPS
AT LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE
Theater review: ‘The 39 Steps’ at La Jolla Playhouse
By Charles McNulty
August 18, 2009
“The 39 Steps,” Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 rush of cinematic adrenaline, is an alternating sequence of daring seductions and hair-breadth escapes. The movie, based on John Buchan’s book, is indeed an absolute frenzy of fugitive motion, masterfully guided by a director whose risk-taking style and astringent human vision never failed to bring viewers to the edge of the cliff.
Would you believe that the popular theatrical version, a who-would-have-thunk-it? sleeper that’s still attracting audiences on London’s West End and Broadway, tries to re-create the film with a mere cast of four, a joshing sense of humor prone to horseplay and special effects that are more college-revue than Cameron Mackintosh? Staged by the hit show’s director, Maria Aitken, this spry comic revamp, which opened Sunday at La Jolla Playhouse in a co-production with Seattle Repertory Theatre, sets out to prove that anything movies can do, theater can do less expensively and more hilariously.
Karl Marx’s dictum about history repeating itself, “first as tragedy, second as farce” is turning out to be an even more accurate description of stage blockbusters spun from big-screen sources. Light entertainment is the name of the game here. So instead of Hitchcock’s sharp visual artistry and suspense, trenchant social satire and sneaky sexual candor, we get galumphing slapstick, giggling references to “Psycho” and “North by Northwest” and winks to the audience about recalcitrant props and insubordinate scenery.
–Charles McNulty
“The 39 Steps,” Mandell Weiss Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla. 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. $30–$65. (858) 550-1010. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.
To read the complete review, click on http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/08/theater-review-the-39-steps-at-la-jolla-playhouse.html