As Laguna Playhouse puts on ‘Peril,’ artistic director sees promise in its future

Laguna Playhouse has catered to a crowd that croons for a classic over the past couple of weeks, the latest production doing exactly that with the return of an iconic literary character.

Hercule Poirot has taken center stage once more with this month’s performances of “Peril in the Alps.”

Director and playwright Steven Dietz has delivered a sequel to “Murder on the Links,” which was staged at the venue two years ago.

It’s the last week for fans of the eccentric mystery solver, played by Omri Schein, to catch him in action. The audience of “Peril in the Alps,” which runs through Sunday, spends the bulk of the show trying to figure out how to catch a suspected guilty party who is always a few steps ahead.

David Ellenstein, who joined Laguna Playhouse as interim artistic director in September 2022 and had the interim tag removed in May 2023, has acknowledged the importance of giving the people what they want and doing it well.

That mandate then earns equity with the patrons to expose them to new things. Laguna Playhouse’s upcoming season will take those chances, with two world premieres among its six-show slate. Those include a Paul Slade Smith comedy in “Bedside Myself” (Oct. 29-Nov. 16) and more mystery in Matthew Salazar-Thompson’s “The Maltese Falcon” (April 15-May 3).

“It’s always exciting to birth a play,” Ellenstein said. “It’s something where you’re not just trying to do a play that exists the best you can, but you’re actually creating something that’s going to exist forever. The way that you do it for that first time is not only completely invented by the company, but then as the play gets published, that’s the production that is used to create the printed script. It’s been, basically, initially stamped by that first production, and being part of those is always very exciting.”

The curtain goes up on the 2025-26 season with “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” (Sept. 17 to Oct. 5). “Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground,” featuring Tony Award winner John Rubinstein, runs from Jan. 14 to Feb. 1. “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” (March 4 to 22) and “Red” (June 10 to 28) round out the coming season’s lineup.

Ellenstein, who also has a history with Laguna Playhouse as an actor, is excited about the recent audience response. He said season ticket sales for next season are already in line with this year’s, and the venue has opened its mezzanine level to accommodate demand on several occasions.

“My vision is to make it a thriving, full theater again, where the performances are packed and there’s buzz about everyone, and we are moving in that direction,” said Ellenstein, who has also served as the artistic director of North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach since 2003.

“Since I’ve been [at Laguna Playhouse], we have increased the attendance,” he continued. “We are re-staffing up because there were some staffing positions that needed to get refilled, and it’s starting to happen there. I’m actually encouraged and optimistic about the future there and it coming back to its full glory.”

An indication of that interest were the dozens of attendees who stayed behind to participate in a talkback with the cast following a performance last Friday evening.

Discussion included line memorization, the actors’ union status, evolving set changes due to stage size, plus the number of behind-the-scenes staff contributing to the six-actor play that features 29 characters.

Valerie Larsen, who plays Captain Hastings, was asked about being cast in a male role.

“One thing that [Dietz] said to me when we were figuring things out, his mentality around that kind of thing is most classic literature characters are male,” Larsen said. “The way he said it was, ‘I think that everyone should have an opportunity to play the great characters.’”

Schein’s credits include writing the lyrics for “The Remarkable Mister Holmes,” which was put on by Laguna Playhouse in March. He also played Poirot in “Murder on the Links,” and describes the experience as “intimidating” because of the public’s familiarity with the character.

“So many people know [Poirot] because of the books, because of the TV show,” Schein said. “Obviously, both ‘Murder on the Links’ and ‘Peril in the Alps’ are written by the same playwright and were directed by the same person, Steven Dietz.

“‘Murder on the Links’ was actually based on the Agatha Christie novel, and he enjoyed the character so much that he wanted to live with the character somewhat. That’s why he decided to write the sequel, ‘Peril in the Alps.’ It’s interesting. I think this one is more comedic. Both were comic takes on the Hercule Poirot stories, but this one, I think, is more comical than the last one. We’re getting more laughs, in general.”

Gabbie Adner, Brian Mackey, Amanda Sitton and Christopher M. Williams team up to tackle the balance of the characters.

“Honky Tonk Angels” (July 30 to Aug. 17) will conclude the current season. There will also be a holiday special musical, “A Snow White Christmas,” from Dec. 6 to 28.