Review: Wayside's 'Sherlock' sure to please

By John Horan Jr. -- jhoran@nvdaily.com

MIDDLETOWN -- Forget "Law and Order," "CSI" and their spin-offs. Their progenitor, Sherlock Holmes, that most enduring and perspicacious crime solver, is on the case at Wayside Theatre.

His ingenuity, powers of reasoning and quirks are undiminished and fully on display in the scintillating "Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure."

Directed by Warner Crocker, the solid cast glides through the various intriguing plot twists in the meticulously designed, dark production.

Steven Deitz's play adeptly blends two of Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes stories: "A Scandal in Bohemia," which featured the captivating singer Irene Adler; and "The Adventure of the Final Problem," in which the author, burdened by his detective's enduring popularity, tried to kill him off in an enigmatic tussle with his archenemy, Professor Moriarty, at Reichenbach Falls in the Alps.

Devotees of the Holmes canon will feel right at home with Deitz's polished creation, which is also based on a play Conan Doyle co-wrote, although they may be jolted by an amorous detour out of character for the literary Holmes.

John Alcott offers a convincing, detailed portrait of the master private detective, diminished only by the actor's partiality to bellowing when agitated.

David Maga is a strong Dr. Watson, Holmes' faithful aide and scribe.

Cody Murphy's Moriarty is properly nefarious although his menace pales with that of his henchman, convincingly played by Vaughn Irving.

Thomasin Savaiano displays the bewitching charms that made Irene Adler a persistent, lingering memory for Holmes.

R. Jayson Belew is the love-struck king of Bohemia, David Sucharski the double-dealing con artist and Aviva Pressman his conniving sister.

Smoothing the transition from one scene to another is Til Turner's ingenious, open set, which includes a mobile platform that conjures the precipice at the fateful waterfall and swings around to serve as a table in a climactic scene in a basement. Paul M. Callahan's shadowy lighting contributes to the unsettling aura, complemented by freshets of fog.

The handsome Victorian costumes are by Tamara M. Carruthers and Catherine Lovejoy.

"Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure" continues through Nov. 7. The box office phone number is 869-1776.