Most of my journalistic pursuits these days involve mysteries and theater, but rarely do the two intersect. So you can imagine my surprise when I received word about a mystery play festival billed as "star-studded" that took place in Owensbro, Ky., last week, the International Mystery Writers' Festival.
Frankly, I would have loved to attend, in part to see Angela Lansbury receive the First Lady of Mystery Award (Murder, She Wrote has always been a guilty pleasure of mine), but also because one of my early Broadway experiences was seeing the play Deathtrap, then starring Farley Granger and always starring Marian Seldes, and I think it's a shame that the Broadway thriller has disappeared from the landscape. You can still find the occasional thriller elsewhere, though. Last summer I caught Roger Rees and Rick Elice's Double Double at the Williamstown Theatre Festival (although if Rees weren't the company's artistic director I'm not sure it would have been staged).
Here's hoping this new festival really does become an annual event. If it does, perhaps Columbo Takes the Rap will find its way to Broadway soon.
1 comment:
God I wish I had seen Deathtrap. Wasn't Marian in all 1793 performances? I guess she might have taken a vacation or two, but wow, what a work ethic. She is absolutely lovely.
Angela didn't go to the Mystery Festival in person but did record a video about the award. http://www.newmysteries.org/
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