Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre Keeps Cast and Audience Alert with Booby Traps in "Something's Afoot"
Review by ShireNet reviewer Sharon Kennedy
To refresh one's memory, "Booby Trap" is a hidden and harmless-looking object frequently an explosive device such as gas or a bomb that is triggered by an unsuspecting victim. Booby traps are bounteous at the Country Estate of Lord Dudley Rancour, known as Rancour's Retreat. One would think Rancour's Retreat located on an island in the middle of a lake somewhere in the English Lake District to have both peace and solitude for Rancour's guests. Thus, in the late Spring of 1935, Rancour's Retreat would be a healthy retreat, wouldn't it?. Such a retreat is an unlikely place for booby traps, it would seem. And the guests, as follow, expect a healthy retreat and hence are truly unsuspecting of the booby traps. While the guests are unsuspecting of booby traps, they are equally truly suspicious imposters. I'll let you guess the true identity by seeing the show or by other means available to you.
| Cast of characters | True Identity |
| Kelly Doherty as Lettie | Lord Rancour |
| Brandon Mace as Flint | Lord Rancour's nephew |
| Frank Benntt as Clive | The maid |
| Kristin Barber as Hope Langdon | The butler |
| George E. Rouse as Dr. Grayburn | Lady Rancour |
| Joe Dodd as Nigel Rancour | Col. Shirley |
| Clara Barton Green as Lady Grace Manley-Prowe | Plays self and a detective of sorts |
| Lyle Smythers as Col. Gillweather | a college student |
| Leslie Churchill Ward as Miss Tweed | Plays self |
| Robert J. Luttrell as Geoffrey | Legal heir to Lord Rancour's fortune |
To set the record straight at such a retreat, Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre takes several steps to keep the audience attentive. The cast create an air of mystery and mirth to characters that in many instances are imposters. All guests--Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre and Lord Rancour's-enjoy a drink or two with some guests reacting in a very unhealty manner. Something to be seen and not told. In such a healthy or unhealthy retreat, depending on your relationship to Lord Rancour, Rancour's guests sing, as in a musical whodunit. So who does the singing? Green, Lawson, Mace, Barber, Rouse, Dodd, Lebowitz, Smythers, Churchill Ward, and Luttrell sing such songs as "A Marvelous Weekend," "Something's Afoot," "Suspicious," "The Legal Heir," "Dinghy," among others. In fact the cast proves their worth by just dying to sing. If you have ever dreamed of inheriting millions from a rich relative and how you will live thereafter, you will feel empathy for the two Lord Rancour guests who do end up with the money. As Lord Rancour has left an inheritance to his legal heir.
If you are suspicious for further details and can't wait to find out whodunit, visit the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre. Following this show, the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre opens with "Man of La Mancha" on Oct. 9, 1996. For information and reservations, call 703-550-7384 (metro) and 703-494-6311(local).