The Brewster sisters are once again at their mirthfully murderous ways in La Mirada Theatre’s pitch-perfect revival of Joseph Kesserling’s 1941 Broadway classic Arsenic And Old Lace.

Jamison Jones stars as New York “dramatic critic” Mortimer Brewster, who discovers to his dismay that his 70something rooming house owner aunts Abby (Carol Mansell) and Martha (Lynn Milgrim) have been sparing their over-the-hill boarders the loneliness of old age by serving them a special blend of homemade elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and “just a pinch of cyanide.”

Mortimer’s realization that there may well be killers’ blood rushing through his veins could hardly come at a more inopportune time, the theaterphobic reviewer having only just proposed to the lovely Elaine Harper (Rachel Seiferth), though truth be told, there’s already more than enough evidence of madness under the Brewster family roof.

Mortimer’s brother Teddy (James Lancaster) lives under the delusion that he is former President Theodore Roosevelt (“Charge!!!”), and that the graves he’s been digging down in Abby and Martha’s basement are actually locks for T.R.’s pet project, the Panama Canal.

And speaking of murderers, Mortimer’s remaining sibling (Ty Mayberry) turns out to be a torture-loving serial killer who’s transformed himself into the spitting image of horror movie star Boris Karloff thanks to his loyal henchman Dr. Einstein’s (Ed F. Martin) gifts as a plastic surgeon.

All of the above characters (and what characters they are!) converge under the Brewster family roof, along with Elaine’s preacher papa the Rev. Dr. Harper (Time Winters), a would-be tenant (Mike Genovese as Mr. Gibbs) who fits Abby and Martha’s criteria to a T, a trio of policemen (Michael Thomas-Visgar, Nick McKenna, and Matthew Grondin as Officers Brophy, Klein, and O’Hara) and loony bin superintendent Mr. Witherspoon (Winters), who might hold the solution to Mortimer’s dilemma.

Then again, can there really be a happy ending for any Brewster when you’ve got murder in your genes?

Playwright Kesselring mines chuckles aplenty from Mortimer’s self-acknowledged hatred of the theater, from Jonathan’s unfortunate choice of surgically altered faces, and from the local cops’ absolute cluelessness to the crimes being committed right under their noses.

These laughs and more have made Arsenic And Old Lace an enduring gem for the past eight decades, and never more so than at La Mirada Theatre For the Performing Arts.

Director Casey Stangl elicits one sparking performance after another in a play that community theaters have done to death (forgive the pun) but is rarely granted this caliber professional production.

Not only does each and every cast member put a distinctive stamp on Arsenic And Old Lace’s decidedly quirky cast of characters, they reveal split-second comedic timing (take for instance Jones’ deliberately delayed reactions to the horrors around him) and a mastery of physical comedy bar none.

Mansel and Milgrim are both dithery delights, and so sweetly earnest in their belief that they’ve done nothing but good for their twelve (or thirteen) lonely victims that you can’t help but wish them well.

 A sensational Jones gives Cary Grant (who played Mortimer in the 1944 film adaptation) a run for his movie star money opposite Seiferth’s spot-on 1940s-style snappy-talking Elaine.

Mayberry’s creepy-crawly Jonathan does Boris Karloff proud, Martin makes for a deliciously daffy Dr. Einstein, a “bully” Lancaster mines every Teddy Roosevelt laugh, and Grondin is a hoot as play-writing hopeful O’Hara, arguably the dimmest bulb in the Brooklyn Police Force, though Thomas-Visgar’s Brophy and McKenna’s Klein give him some pretty stiff competition in the dumb-and-dumber department.

Last but not least, Winters and Genovese create two such distinctive characters each, you’d think there were two more of them up on stage.

Scenic designer John Iacovelli’s impeccably appointed living room set (kudos too to properties designer Kevin Williams) is a Broadway-caliber dazzler, and stunningly lit by Karyn D. Lawrence.

David Kay Mickelsen has designed one Victorian-meets-early-‘40s costume gem after another (complemented by Katie McCoy’s just-right hair/wig/makeup designs), and sound design whiz Josh Bessom provides expertly amped voices along with quirky music and effects.

Casting is by Julia Flores. Julie Ann Renfro is production stage manager and Lisa Palmire is assistant stage manager. Michael Polak is fight choreographer.

Like last season’s Murder On The Orient, Arsenic And Old Lace is so all-around splendid, you can’t help wishing La Mirada/McCoy Rigby would do more than just one straight play per year. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine a more murderously mirthful Golden Era treat.

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Boulevard, La Mirada.
www.lamiradatheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
January 25, 2020
Photos: Jason Niedle

Tags: Joseph Kesserling, La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts, Los Angeles Theater Review, McCoy Rigby Entertainment