Review: THE GAME'S AFOOT at Gulfshore Playhouse

Just a note: There's (at least) one red herring in every mystery. "The Game's Afoot" does not disappoint.

Robert F. Wolin transforms 221B Baker Street into a deep crimson art deco palace [think the Empire State Building] with secret rooms, revolving doors and voices hidden in the walls. Shot during curtain call of a Sherlock play, egotistical actor William Gillette boldly declares he'll inhabit the role of Holmes for real and find his own assassin.

Ludwig at once gives theatre a lovely valentine and a self-deflating prick. His central plot device knifes (quite literally) the stage's most loved friend and most hated enemy (no spoilers!). Nickell's Gillete also delivers a stirring monologue ("this mad life of ours … the most glorious game ever invented") that rings as a clarion call to every creative spirit who's ever slapped on greasepaint and stepped onto a stage. Subscribers can read the full review...

"The Game's Afoot" runs Feb. 21 - March 16 at Gulfshore Playhouse. Call 866-811-4111 or gulfshoreplayhouse.org.






■ "The Game's Afoot" playwright Ken Ludwig will visit Naples to participate in a talkback with the Gulfshore Playhouse cast after the Sunday, March 2 matinee. 

■ Gulfshore Playhouse will offer an exclusive reading of two new Ken Ludwig works, with the author in attendance, at 3 p.m. Monday, March 3. $20. 866-811-4111 or gulfshoreplayhouse.org.

Read the review: LES MISERABLES at Broadway Palm

Saturday night's alright for fighting.   That's right! Come to Broadway Palm, to Paris, to the barricade, to "Les Miserables."  Even if you've seen it eleventy-billion times before. This one, like all live theatre, is different. Same story. Same convict. Same dream. No turntable. None of the flying projections from the recent national tour that played both Naples (Jan. '12) and Fort Myers (March '13) inside 14 months. But life. Throbbing, pulsing, furious life - the kind schoolboys man barricades to defend.

John P. White's costumes alone threaten to steal the show. Picture plaid-pantsed hipster revolutionaries and a couture-clad Cosette in candy-stripe confections; it's "My Fair Lady" marching on Montmartre, but it totally works.  Subscribers can read the complete review...