Review: The Game Continues at Stage West! Sherlock Makes a Sweet Returns with SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ADVENTURE OF THE FALLEN SOUFFLE

John-Michael Marrs as Sherlock. Photos Evan Michael Woods

Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Fallen Souffle

Audience Rating: PG for some very mild violence
Run Time: 135ish minutes, 15 minute intermission
Accessible Seating: Available
Hearing Devices: Available
Sensory Friendly Performance: Not available

ASL Performance: June 26
Production Sound Level: Comfortable Volume
Noises or Visuals to Prepare for: The sound design is melodramatic, almost constant. Guns are also involved, but very few shots included.

Reviewed by Bradford Reilly

This summer, Stage West presents Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Fallen Souffle, a second installment of a three-part summer Sherlock series. Souffle tells the story of the renowned detective of 221B Baker Street solving the mystery behind a royal assassination plot by anti-monarchists, missing crown jewels, a conniving evil genius, all among a background of the most delectable French cuisine to have ever graced turn-of-the-century London (which—come to find—isn’t hard to do). 

 
The challenge of this particular play is two fold: that it is a sequel and a single-room mystery, so there is a LOT of explanation and exposition while sitting in one room. The play, then becomes a slow burn, but interjected with many fun moments filled with melodramatic sound design (by Jason Jordan) and hilarious, well-developed characters that the production proves to be awesome family fun for all (excellent direction by Jay Duffer!)
 
Our vehicle into the story was via Dr. Watson (Brian Gonzales,) the play’s straight man with some excellent comedic moments of his own! Every other character gave a piece of the puzzle to him, and it was he that watched the action unfold. The push and pull between him and antagonist--daughter to the infamous Moriarty!-- Marie Chartier (played exquisitely by Amanda Reyes) was incredibly fun to watch. Reyes played a French temptress who was always in control of the game, even when she wasn’t. She commanded control of the stage in every scene she was in. A special call out to a detail by Costume Designer Laurie Land for finding Marie’s snakeskin boots, which she refuses to take off, no matter the disguise. Reyes and Gonzales were cat and mouse, as Gonzales’ Dr. Watson played off his moral code versus Reyes’ tactics to implicate everyone into her plot.
 
Even though he was central to the action of the play, when it came to solving the mystery, Watson was ignored by his friendlier counterparts. Irene Adler (played by Dana Schultes) and Sherlock Holmes (John-Michael Marrs), were often too entangled in their own world to pay him any mind. The chemistry between Schultesand Marrs was a different game of cat and mouse than the Reyes and Gonzales—it lent itself to being a game of passion versus intrigue, a game of equals instead of predator and prey. Schultes’ Adler was a spitfire to Marrs’ more mercurial Holmes, and they played off each other well.
 
Caught within Marie Chartier’s machinations, the outrageously French chef August Escoffier—played by Jovane Caamaño—provided some cartoonish color to the show. Threatened with a letter, Escoffier shows up to Sherlock Holmes’ apartment for help, where we also find out that he was a former lover of Irene Adler. Caamaño lays it on thick like buttercream—the French accent, the French flirtation, the French cuisine. 
 
Yet the primary mouse in Marie Chartier’s maze is the Royal Prince Albert—a man who has waited his entire life for his mother, Queen Victoria, to die, and half of his life neglected from a healthy relationship with her. His history makes him an entitled brat. In fact, it was Matthew Minor’s Prince Albert Edward (or Bertie) that changed the most in the entire play. Minor played the man who refuses to grow up. However, Bertie had the capability to change in the face of his assassination attempt. Minor’s Bertie didn’t do a complete 180, but he began down a path toward change that would make him an honorable King Edward VII, a version of a tantrum-throwing-leader we can only hope for.  
 
It was a mere coincidence that Stage West’s production of Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Fallen Souffle opened the same weekend of a military parade and nationwide protests, and it is completely unintentional by the production team to produce a play focused on an assassination plot. But, I think the parallels are clear, and only enhances the story that unfolds in front of us on a stage in Fort Worth. 
 
Go, enjoy this deliciously fun Sherlock Holmes mystery. I also recommend purchasing a delicious box of Escoffier’s Chocolate Croissants, and have a dessert waiting for you at intermission! Tickets can be purchased at stagewest.org. 

I look forward to part 3! 

Enjoy the show!

Bradford Reilly