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Theater Review | 'Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps'

Spies, Blonde and a Guy Go North by Northwest

The 39 Steps
NYT Critic’s Pick

It’s all too easy to identify with Richard Hannay as he first appears in “The 39 Steps,” the absurdly enjoyable, gleefully theatrical riff on Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film. True, the odds are that you’re not as deeply, fatuously handsome as Richard (Charles Edwards), or as square of jaw, clipped of diction or cocked of eyebrow.

Still, there’s something about Richard’s restless ennui in the first scene of this production, which opened on Tuesday night at the American Airlines Theater, that rings loud and true with New Yorkers sinking into the gray oatmeal of January in the city.

Bored with the tedium of his life, Richard is also fed up with newspapers bearing tales of “elections and wars and rumors of wars.” He longs for “something mindless and trivial. Something utterly pointless.” His jaw unclenches for a “Eureka!” moment. “I know!” he says. “I’ll go to the theater!”

On the evidence of “The 39 Steps,” directed by Maria Aitken and performed by a cast of four that seems like a cast of thousands, this is very sound advice. Adapted by Patrick Barlow from both the classic spy movie and the John Buchan novel of 1915, this fast, frothy exercise in legerdemain is throwaway theater at its finest. And that’s no backhanded compliment.

A perfect soufflé, after all, requires a precise and confident chef. While the small, heavy-duty ensemble — rounded out by Arnie Burton, Jennifer Ferrin and Cliff Saunders — exudes a breezy effortlessness, its words and movements are governed by an intricate master plan that the plot’s hapless double agents and policemen would do well to emulate.

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From left, Charles Edwards, Jennifer Ferrin, Arnie Burton and Cliff Saunders in "The 39 Steps."Credit...Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Consider, for example, how Mr. Burton and Mr. Saunders, who shift identities faster than a field of presidential candidates, manage to embody four to six characters within the same seconds-long fraction of a scene, tossing headgear and coats to each other like circus jugglers. Or how Mr. Edwards and Ms. Ferrin walk a trembling tightrope between archness and ardor.

Or how a few battered trunks morph into the interior of — and then the roof of — a speeding train, or a cluster of humdrum chairs into a getaway car. By evening’s end, you’ll have nearly forgotten that the show’s set and costumes (the province of the inspirationally frugal Peter McKintosh, with lighting to match by Kevin Adams) are nearly as spartan as those of a bargain-basement production of “Our Town.”

The show was officially called “John Buchan’s The 39 Steps” when I saw it in London. It is now more accurately titled “Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps.” Aside from its prologue and epilogue, the show hews to the script of the film, which took greater liberties with the Buchan novel than this production does with the movie.

Not that Ms. Aitken and Mr. Barlow’s version (based on an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon), which won the 2007 Olivier Award for best new comedy in London, have delivered a frame-by-frame breakdown of a Hitchcock masterpiece that would appeal to semioticians. Yes, the show is peppered with gratifyingly groan-making visual, verbal and aural references (via Mic Pool’s Bernard Herrmann-quoting sound design) to other Hitchcock films.

(Loved those “North by Northwest” shadow-puppet crop dusters.)

But the appeal here is ultimately more to theater aficionados than to movie buffs, and you don’t need to have seen the movie to appreciate the accomplishment of the show. Ms. Aitken and company are using their cinematic template to celebrate the art of instant illusion-making that is theater. Much of the show’s pleasure comes from being in on the magician’s tricks even as, on some primitive level, you accept them.

There is wit to spare in the original screenplay for “The 39 Steps” (by Charles Bennett, Ian Hay and Alma Reville, a k a Mrs. Alfred Hitchcock), and many of the funniest — and more surprisingly, the raciest — lines in Mr. Barlow’s play come directly from the movie. This “39 Steps” isn’t using its source material as a satiric target but as an accomplice.

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From left, Charles Edwards, Arnie Burton, Cliff Saunders and Jennifer Ferrin in “The 39 Steps.”Credit...Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

The performers largely avoid direct impersonation of the film’s cast members. The masterly Mr. Edwards, the one holdover from the London cast, isn’t reincarnating Robert Donat, the suave actor who created the part. Instead he’s channeling a whole tradition of gentlemanly but virile heroes. (I don’t think it’s just because Richard is Canadian that the screen figure Mr. Edwards most reminds me of is the cartoon Mountie Dudley Do-Right.)

Ms. Ferrin, who plays the several romantic interests in the story, does evoke the prototypical Hitchcock blonde in her portrayal of Pamela, a part originated by Madeleine Carroll. But mostly she’s doing vaudeville variations on classic love interests: exotic Mata Hari type, wistful country girl.

Playing everybody else, and that’s a lot of else, Mr. Saunders (who is a natural offbeat clown) and Mr. Burton are asked to stretch their comic muscles to the snapping point, as well as hefting much of the furniture that coalesces so unexpectedly into all sorts of landscapes. They never appear to sweat it. The exasperation they occasionally show is in the script. The actors themselves seem to be having a helluva good time.

As does the audience. For in addition to providing the relief of being committedly silly in a season of fine dramas about unhappy families, “The 39 Steps” stands out for its plying of minimal resources to maximal effect.

The creators of the bloated spectacles “The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein” and “Disney’s The Little Mermaid” should take a hard look at “Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps,” which packs a lot less ego into its brand-name title. With its cast of four and a brick-wall-backed set, this show flies lightly into an ether of escapism, while its over-produced peers remain stuck leadenly on the ground.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S THE 39 STEPS

Adapted by Patrick Barlow, based on an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon and the book by John Buchan; directed by Maria Aitken; sets and costumes by Peter McKintosh; lighting by Kevin Adams; sound by Mic Pool; production management, Aurora Productions; production stage manager, Nevin Hedley; general managers, Rebecca Habel and Roy Gabay; associate producer, Sydney Beers; associate artistic director, Scott Ellis. Presented by the Roundabout Theater Company, Todd Haimes, artistic director; Harold Wolpert, managing director; Julia C. Levy, executive director; in association with Bob Boyett, Harriet Newman Leve/Ron Nicynski, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley, Manocherian Golden Productions, Olympus Theatricals/Douglas Denoff and Marek J. Cantor/Pat Addiss; and the Huntington Theater Company, Nicholas Martin, artistic director; Michael Maso, managing director; and Edward Snape for Fiery Angel. At the American Airlines Theater, 227 West 42nd Street, Manhattan; (212) 719-1300. Through March 23. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes.

WITH: Arnie Burton (Man #2), Charles Edwards (Richard Hannay), Jennifer Ferrin (Annabella Schmidt/Pamela/Margaret) and Cliff Saunders (Man #1).

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