New Life for ‘Deathtrap’

Whodunit? Who plopped a perfectly enjoyable touring production of “Deathtrap” starring Elliott Gould, Mariette Hartley and the adorable Marilyn Cooper into the huge Terrace Theater at the Long Beach Convention Center? Even a decent-sized audience looked tiny and forlorn in the acreage of seats, and the stars seemed deflated at curtain-call time.

Ah well. Once the audience adjusted to the disembodied voices (not an effect of the drama but scary amplification), it was wrapped tightly in the classic thriller’s shapely first act. Of course the great Act 1 climax is borrowed from the 1955 Henri-Georges Clouzot movie “Diabolique,” but never mind. Ira Levin’s 1978 drama holds the record as Broadway’s longest-running thriller, and you can see why.

John Tillinger directs with a sure hand the story of a washed-up playwright who would murder for a good play, maybe. Tillinger ignores the potential problems of the dated form (murder mysteries are staples of TV now, not the stage) and content (the ‘70s still seem dated and not a “period”). Tillinger directs straight-up, as if it had never been played before. Everything works; the plumbing is generally in good order, though it leaks a bit in the second act.

Gould is miscast as the nasty playwright Sidney Bruhl, a man whose sarcasm should be dripping venom. Gould is cuddly and warm and doesn’t know how to drip venom. You want a cutting Monty Woolley here and you get a cute woolly mammoth. But Hartley is complicated as the long-suffering wife, astonishingly passive-aggressive in her shiny auburn page boy. Douglas Wert is so naturally sunny as the young aspiring playwright that his character’s nastiness comes as a true surprise. Cooper is precise and very funny as the tiny Helen Ten Dorp, the dead-on Dutch psychic. Doug Stender is uneventful as the lawyer.

James Noone’s Connecticut country house set and Ken Billington’s stormy night lighting add heaps of ambience. Those who know the plot and those who don’t leap out of their seats all together at the big surprise. That’s just how it works.

* “Deathtrap,” Terrace Theater, Long Beach Convention Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Tuesday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m. Ends Sunday. $17.50-$47.50. (213) 365-3500, (714) 740-2000. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Elliott Gould: Sidney Bruhl

Mariette Hartley: Myra Bruhl

Douglas Wert: Clifford Anderson

Marilyn Cooper: Helga Ten Dorp

Doug Stender: Porter Milgram

A Magic Promotions & Theatricals, Pace Theatrical Group and Manny Kladitis production. By Ira Levin. Directed by John Tillinger. Sets James Noone. Costumes Jess Goldstein. Lights Ken Billington. Sound Peter Fitzgerald. Production stage manager Judith Binus.