The Community Theatre of Howell’s production of Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express” will be performed Feb. 3-5, and Feb. 10-12 at the Howell High School Freshman Campus, 1400 W. Grand River Ave. in Howell. Tickets are $16 for seniors and students, and $18 for adults. Performances are set for 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, as well as 2 p.m. Sunday on the weekends of Feb. 3-5 and Feb. 10-12.
For tickets, click here.
Join CTH for a thrill ride of mystery and adventure aboard the famous Orient Express as it journeys through the snow-capped mountains of Eastern Europe, when, just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks; in the morning an American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed eight times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, the passengers rely on detective Hercule Poirot to stop the murderer – in case they decide to strike again.
From now until opening night, we’ll be introducing you to members of the cast. In today’s story, we meet Ross Freeland of Fowlerville, who works in Accounts Payable at H.H. Barnum Company.
How did you first become involved with CTH? How many shows have you been involved with?
I became involved with CTH right out of high school (I will not elaborate on how long ago that was!). I’ve been in many shows with them, some of my favorites in no particular order, include: Arsenic and Old Lace as Mortimer Brewster, A Few Good Men as Lt. Daniel Kaffee, Noise Off! as Garry Lejeune, and The Importance of Being Earnest as Algernon Moncrieff.
What do you like most about being involved with CTH?
I’ve performed and trained in many different places such as The Second City, The Purple Rose, with Ann Arbor Civic and at LCC among others. Everywhere I’ve gone, there’s always been sort of a stigma involving “community theatre.”
CTH has always done very professional shows and have wonderful actors and crew that put these shows together. I’ve heard countless times about how a version of a play that CTH has done has equaled or exceeded what other professional theatres have put on of that same show and I think that speaks volumes about what a community theatre is capable of with talented and passionate people.
What do you like about the show “Murder on the Orient Express?”
I was really surprised about how different the stage version is compared to the most recent movie adaptation (I have not seen the 1970s version). The stage version has quite a few humorous moments that help offset the obvious serious tones of one (or maybe more?) murder(s).
The pace of the show is quick and efficient as opposed to being slow or plodding as you might expect from a murder mystery. I also really like the twists and turns throughout the show as you’re trying to figure out who committed the murder and ultimately the payoff where everything comes together. It’s a story that kept me guessing up until the very end.
Tell us about your role in the show and why you like it?
I play the role of Hector McQueen, assistant to Samuel Ratchett. Hector is a sort of squirrelly fellow, he always appears to be on edge and doesn’t like to cause a stir. He also seems to be the only person that has close ties to Samuel Ratchett … is that a coincidence or is there more than meets the eye with Mr. McQueen?
What can the audience expect when they come to see the show?
I might be partial, but as much as I love being a part of this show, I wish I could see it as well! The performances are all fantastic and all of the work behind the scenes has been incredible. The set and how it moves is really cool and our crew has been really impressive with how they’ve made the scene changes so seamless.
Our version has a really nice pace to it. I mentioned before that for this genre, you don’t necessarily expect a brisk, fluid pace to the show, but that’s what we have. It’s such a well-written play that is really being brought to life by the direction of George Popovich and the performances of the entire cast.
Combined with our great sound and lighting technicians and our backstage crew that keeps the sets moving and the many props where they need to be, we’ve got a show that audiences are really, really going to enjoy.
