By Bill Hirschman, FloridaTheaterOnStage.com, for SouthFloridaReporter.com, Nov. 6, 2015 – The classic 1952 crime play Dial M For Murder is a brilliantly-designed timepiece of plotting and dramatic construction. Unfortunately, Broward Stage Door’s barely serviceable production of this supposed thriller lacks much sizzle or suspense.
No one does a poor job in any department, but neither does this production fulfill this warhorse’s time-tested potential. Maybe the piece has just outlived itself: The Maltz Jupiter Theatre’s well-heeled production in 2013 with top-notch personnel similarly failed to electrify the auditorium.
Dial M For Murder is not a whodunit in the Agatha Christie mold, although there are similarly dizzying curlicues of logic and deduction. This is more along the lines of Columbo in that we know who did it (or wants to) and why. The question is whether he’s going to get away with it, especially as he deftly dodges the snares set by a square-jawed lover and a tweedy but keen investigator.
