But Cochrane still gives him the necessary gravity. The experience of solving this murder “made me question the very deepest values that I have held since I was a young man,” he says.Īt the same time, this Poirot is a little jollier and quicker-to-laugh than in some previous interpretations.

“Murder on the Orient Express” is not as funny as “Clue,” but there is far more depth to it, partially because the characters are more realistic and the action less far-fetched, but also because Ludwig has Poirot - in the show’s epilogue, as well as its prologue - talk about an ethical issue that the case raised, for him. “What better way to spend a pleasant evening together!” “The story you are about to witness is one of romance and tragedy, primal murder, and the urge for revenge,” Poirot, played in this production by Anthony Cochrane, tells the audience directly, in Ludwig’s prologue. But there is still plenty of entertainment value in watching Belgian master detective Hercule Poirot, stranded with a bunch of eccentric suspects (and not too eager to turn his time off from work into a busman’s holiday), inch closer and closer to the truth. You probably already know by now, via the novel or the films, who committed the murder on the luxury train, which is stuck in the snow somewhere in Yugoslavia. It was a lot of fun then, and - with direction, this time around, by Casey Hushion (who also was at the helm for Paper Mill’s “Clue”) - it’s a lot of fun now. This version, adapted by Ken Ludwig (“Lend Me a Tenor,” “Crazy for You,” “Moon Over Buffalo”), debuted at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton in 2017, with clever staging that created the illusion of a moving train while also letting audience members peek into that train’s cramped sleeping compartments.Īnthony Cochrane plays Hercule Poirot in the Paper Mill Playhouse’s “Murder on the Orient Express.”

Yes, that would be the same 1934 Agatha Christie whodunit that previously was made into feature films in 19, as well as a made-for-TV film in 2001. Mustard in the library with the rope? Oh wait, I’m thinking back to last year, when the Paper Mill Playhouse presented a stage version of the board game, “Clue.” This year’s mystery, in a run that continues through May 14, is “Murder on the Orient Express.” White in the kitchen with the candlestick? Or Col. From left, Stephanie Gibson, Gisela Chípe, Anthony Cochrane, Donna English, Evan Zes, Graham Stevens and Karen Ziemba co-star in “Murder on the Orient Express” at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn.

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