There’s no slapstick gags, singing or romance in the newest show on stage at Marathon Community Theatre. But “Wait Until Dark” will take audiences on an intense ride from lights up to the final curtain.
In 1940s Greenwich Village, Susan Hendrix finds herself as the target of three con men in search of a diamond-filled doll, unknowingly given to her husband Sam (Mike Wagner) by a now-murdered woman he met while traveling.
Staggering through visits from “Mr. Roat” (Lee Lawson), who tears apart her bedroom and steals a wedding photo; “Carlino” (newcomer Ron Pyron), a police detective unnervingly ready to field her distress call; and “Mike” (Gerrit Hale), a way-back war buddy of her husband’s, Susan’s reality warps as she begins to doubt the intentions of all those around her – and realizes how terrifyingly alone she might be against the gang of three con men continually finding ways into her apartment.
Her only hope of outwitting the villains may lie with little Gloria (Landry Sayer and Journey Nichols-Jones), a bratty child from upstairs who secretly stole the doll – and her ability to “flip the script” and turn her blindness into a lethal advantage in a pitch-black final showdown.
The show is a streamlined, uptempo adaptation of Frederick Knott’s 1966 original script, further popularized by the 1967 film starring Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin and Richard Crenna. It’s a show Wagner as director said he’d been “fascinated with” since he saw the Broadway original starring Lee Remick and Robert Duvall – and one that sets a nailbiting tone and challenging dichotomy from the jump, as some intruders lurk in plain sight on stage, but unseen by Susan.
“I’ve been working since December with Mike, and practiced what it feels like to be blind,” said Belden. “I’d do the entire first act and parts of the second act completely blindfolded. It taught me how to move, it taught me what my face would be doing.
“My initial thought was that it would be switching to mostly listening, and I learned how incredibly important the sense of touch is. I can’t react to anything visual; I have to wait until I feel it or hear it.”
“I’ve been on stage with Noelle a couple times before, and I know what she’s capable of,” said Wagner. “What really amazes me about her is the minute she was cast, she started researching how to do it and what to do, and she really, really put in hours and hours and hours of work.”
It’s the third time this season that Hale and Lawson will share the stage, coming off performances in “The Rocky Horror Show” and “The Odd Couple.” But instead of a gold-Speedo-clad science experiment or a buttoned-up neat freak, Hale said the show’s chief villain embraced his most psychotic role yet.
Photos by ALEX RICKERT/Keys Weekly
“Lee is so good at just ratcheting it up,” said Hale. “He’s Mr. Steady, Steady, Steady. And all of a sudden, when it’s time, he goes to a whole other level.”
The show’s limited moments of comedy – by design, amid the murder thriller – come courtesy of Gloria’s petulant moments, portrayed by the split casting of Sayer and Nichols-Jones to share the role on separate nights. The two young actresses told the Weekly they capitalized on their time not on stage, learning from their counterpart’s performances to make the best version of Gloria and giving one another “a lot” of pointers.
“If I don’t think I do a part right, I just make sure that I watch (Landry), see what she does and try to copy it,” Nichols-Jones said.
“Wait Until Dark” runs at 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from April 16 to May 2, with 3 p.m. Sunday matinees on April 19 and 26. Tickets are $33, available at marathontheater.org or by calling 305-743-0994.
