The play is afoot, Watson.
“Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure” will open at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 24 at Lee’s Summit High School, with additional stagings at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 25 and 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 25 and 26. Tickets will be $7 at the door but can be purchased for $6 in advance at www.lshstheatre.com
Micah Hensley, director of theater at the high school, said he had long regarded the Victorian super sleuth as a fun character he’d like to bring to the stage.
“But Sherlock Holmes grew a little out of touch with modern audiences,” he said, “until the recent movies reintroduced him.”
Now, Hensley deduced, it’s a great time to stage “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure,” a fun show that the director saw produced a few years ago by the Missouri Repertory Theatre.
Based on an 1899 play by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and William Gillette, the Steven Dietz adaptation being staged at Lee’s Summit High School features senior Wesley Preston as the famed detective and senior Dakota Briner as his trusty sidekick, Doctor Watson.
As the story opens, Holmes has seemingly reached the end of his remarkable career, when a case too tempting to ignore presents itself:
The King of Bohemia is about to be blackmailed by a notorious photograph, and the woman at the heart of the crime is famous opera singer Irene Adler, played by senior Brooke Myers. After a couple of drags on his meerschaum pipe, Holmes decides to pursue the case and then the affections of Miss Adler. And, in doing so, he marches right into the lair of his longtime adversary, Professor Moriarty, played by Cody Tracy.
Others in the nine-person cast are David Michaelis as the Prince of Bohemia, Trevor Todd as James Larrabee, Kayla Burns as Madge Larrabee, Gabe Lasley as Sid Prince and Dashawn Young as a policeman, clergyman and messenger.
Stage managed by sophomore Randi Matney, the story moves quickly through several settings, ranging fromVictorian London street scenes cloaked in gaslight and frock coats to a train car and a gas chamber.
According to Preston, he is offstage for only a few minutes during the play, and “the rest of the time I’m like a human dictionary with a never-ending vocabulary.”
In addition to having to learn so many lines, Preston added, he was challenged by having to figure out how to portray the iconic detective – classical or insane? Basil Rathbone or Robert Downey Jr.?
In the end, Preston came down more toward the classical side.
“Though I do have my moments where I kind of get on the edge of insanity,” he said.
For Myers, the role of Irene Adler, Holmes’ intellectual equal, was challenging because of the departure it represented.
“Honestly, it’s the first role I’ve had where I’m not the comic relief of the show,” said Myers, who previously has portrayed Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls” and Kitty in “The Drowsy Chaperone.”
Briner said he didn’t decide to audition for the show until the last minute, when Hensley prodded him to do so. But he’s enjoying the role of Watson, who is intelligent in his own right despite not being able to hold a candle to Holmes’ legendary intellect.
Briner is a fan of dry British humor, “which all began with Sherlock Holmes,” he added.
And beyond the humor, Myers added, audiences will enjoy “all the (other) classical elements you expect from Sir Arthur Donan Doyle – the action, the drama, the love.”
As for Preston, his deerstalker cap is off to the playwright. Dietz did an awesome job of weaving in foreshadowing and suspense that should keep audiences on the edge of their seats, he said.