Steps To The Stage
Steps To The Stage
Dial M for Murder (3 on the Edge Festival) Guests: Ken Lay, Jack Ingram & Mark Anthony Flynn
Step into the shadows of suspense as the 7th Street Community Theatre's dynamic trio, Ken, Flynn, and Jack, pulls back the curtain on their chilling adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder." Get a rare glimpse behind the scenes as Ken reveals his vision for honoring the master of suspense with a keen focus on music and ambiance. The actors chime in with enthusiasm; Flynn delves into the psyche of the scheming Tony while Jack avoids the original film to infuse Max Halliday's character with a fresh essence. If the intricate dance between character and plot intrigues you, this conversation will sharpen your appetite for mystery and drama.
The creativity brews in our second act, where we weave through the elaborate costume and prop tapestry of the upcoming "Three on the Edge Festival." Discover how a community theater's ingenuity turns budget constraints into a showcase of period-perfect ensembles and how a vintage dial phone becomes the silent star of the show. Anticipation peaks as we tease out the festival's Hitchcockian lineup, including a nod to the much-awaited stage adaptation of "The Birds." This episode is more than a mere chat; it's an ode to the artistry and camaraderie that fuels the passion play of community theater. Join us for this auditory escapade that celebrates the pulse-quickening journey from script to stage.
May 10, 23, 25 @ 8pm
May 12 & 18 @ 2:30pm
Festival tickets available at the box office now!
PLEASE NOTE: Festival passes with discounted prices ($39 student/senior and $48 general) CANNOT be purchased online - they are available by phone or at box office ONLY.
Reservations 909-590-1149
www. chinocommunitytheatre. org
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Theaters actually showed it in 2D, but we will be doing it in 3D.
Speaker 2:Glasses will not be included at the door.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:Not needed. The lights are on the curtain's up. This is Steps to the Stage. Hello and welcome to Steps to the Stage, the 7th Street Community Theatre Podcast, where I talk to the community theatre professionals you know and love. Today, as part of our Three on the Edge Hitchcock special, we are talking about Dial M for Murder. I have the director, ken, along with two of our actor friends, flynn and Jack. Welcome all three of you to the show, thank you. So why don't you, ken, start us off by talking about what Dial M for Murder is?
Speaker 1:Well, dial M for Murder is one of Hitchcock's best-known films. It involves husband and wife, tony and Margo Windis. Tony is a retired professional tennis player and Margo is not in love with him anymore. Seeing an American writer, played by Jack Ingram, who's here with us today, and Lauren Bell plays Margo. We also have Mark Anthony Flynn who is playing Tony. Well, tony decides that he's going to hire, or actually blackmail an old college friend to murder his wife the perfect murder rarely is and this one is not and in steps Inspector Hubbard after the crime to solve the mystery. Inspector Hubbard is played by Phil Parker and DS Roeke plays the part of the old college friend. So we're excited to play this for the audiences, or perform this for the audiences coming up very soon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it sounds very, very exciting. Why don't you talk us through? What about Dial M for Murder attracted you as a director.
Speaker 1:Hitchcock. I love Alfred Hitchcock. I love the suspense of his movies. I love the humor. There's not as much humor in Dial M. It's more of a straight-up mystery than some of the others, like North by Northwest or even Rear Window. But it's a great show and the cast is brilliant. We're excited to have everybody see it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean again, it sounds really exciting. Why don't we talk to some of our actors and sort of talk about what attracted them to the show in the first place?
Speaker 3:Flynn, why don't you start us off? Well, what attracted me was actually Ken. So it just happened by coincidence that myself and Ken had worked previously together, many years ago, and he kind of let me know that. He's like hey, I'm doing this show called Dial In for Murder and I have been a fan of Hitchcock for a very long time. So when he told me that he was doing this, I really had to come out and audition and I was very happy to be able to get to play this part from a movie that I had seen before that. I knew that was going to be something a little bit outside of my comfort zone, but something that I knew would be a challenge that I really wanted to take on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 4:Good morning. I'm Jack Ingram. I play Max Halliday. Thank you for having us here today. So what attracted me was well, ken had reached out to me because they were looking for someone to audition for this role, and I was always a fan of Hitchcock growing up, and Ken and I had worked together before, so just a natural fit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so all three of you are admitted, longtime Hitchcock fans. How would you say that you are adding your own, while remaining true to his trademarks and his art? How are the three of you adding your own originality and your own unique spin to something that people know so well?
Speaker 1:Then I'll go. First. I'm trying to pay homage to Hitchcock a bit. In fact, I'm going so far as to use the music from the movie, which is written and composed by Dmitry Tyomkin. Hitchcock was really all about mood. He was all about music, and some of the most memorable scenes are so music involved that I wanted to pay tribute to them in that regard. But beyond that, I think some of the characterizations are a bit different than they were in the movie. I love what both Flynn and Jack bring to their characters. Flynn says this is outside his comfort zone, but Flynn, this is in your comfort zone. You are amazing, you're scary, you're funny and just a really brilliant cast.
Speaker 3:I think for me this was something when I was watching the film, something that was a little bit different. That I wanted to bring to. It was I wanted to bring a fear factor from it. So normally when people hear that oh, it's a murder mystery and our wonderful actor Roki is playing our hitman, I wanted the audience to be more scared of me than they were of the hit man.
Speaker 3:I really wanted it to be the villain. Okay, um, but with he has no sympathy. There's no uh regret about what he is doing. So what I really wanted to try to do to bring something a little bit unique to this, was to uh portray myself almost as this happy-go-lucky person in the beginning and by the end that the audience is very much curious about what's next. What is this person really capable of, without ever really showing a dark, angry side, almost like jaws you're more scared of. You're more scared of the shark when you haven't seen it, what, how dangerous it really is, and that was a fun part about it yeah that sounds really interesting well, I actually hadn't seen the movie um, and I was a little hesitant to.
Speaker 4:It was one of the few uh uh hedgecraft movies that I hadn't seen and so, um, I was hesitant to watch it. I didn't want anything to kind of influence my uh delivery. But what I really enjoy about it is that the kind of police procedural aspect of it. I don't want to give away too much about my character, but there's a lot of kind of like whodunit and little clues here and there that are really interesting and fun.
Speaker 2:Would you mind talking about the set for this production?
Speaker 1:Yeah, the plot of this particular play is so set dependent that the set really we don't have a lot of flexibility because there's so many aspects of the set that are written right into the script, written right into the plot, and so, because this is part of Three on the Edge, all three shows have to share the set. My show is so set dependent that they pretty much designed the set according to our needs, and then we're making minor adjustments for the other two shows. So I'm really grateful to both Chris Diehl and Cameron Harris for their willingness to share the stage in that way and allow us to have what we need for our show.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and do you happen to know the set designer?
Speaker 1:Paul Larson. Hey, he is absolutely amazing and he's such a generous man with his time and his talent and we're truly, truly grateful for all of his contributions to this.
Speaker 2:And then you said that a lot of the details of the set are baked right into the script. Would you mind talking about that a little bit more?
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, without giving away too much because there are certain aspects of it that we want to be uncovered as they can. But there are things. There are French doors that have to be gone into and out of, and people have to be able to go out into what would be the back garden, so to speak, although we never see the garden itself but they have to be able to go in and out those doors. There's just outside the front door of the apartment. There are stairs that have to be seen because they're part of the plot. Even though we don't actually use the stairs, they're still part of the plot. So there are certain aspects that, as I said, are baked right in and if we didn't have that, we would have been doing some script rewriting and none of us wanted to go there. If we didn't have that, we would have been doing some script rewriting and none of us wanted to go there.
Speaker 2:And then, as I understand it, this is not a play based off of the movie Dial M for Murder. This is the play that the movie itself is based off of. Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it started out life as a stage play. However, before it ever made its first debut on the stage, the BBC picked it up, and so it actually had its first exposure through the BBC. A few months later, it was on London's West End, and a short time after that it made its way to Broadway. Warner Brothers picked it up and bought the rights to it, and it seemed like a perfect vehicle for Hitchcock, and it's also the only film that he ever shot in 3D.
Speaker 2:Oh interesting, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's true, most 3D had become quite popular at the time that this movie was being made, and so they talked Hitch into making it 3D. By the time the movie was set to be released, the infatuation had somewhat faded, and so most theaters actually showed it in 2D.
Speaker 2:But we will be doing it in 3D. Glasses will not be included at the door.
Speaker 1:That's right, not. Needed.
Speaker 2:Anything else that you would like to add about the show.
Speaker 1:Why don't you guys talk about some of the other actors in the play and some of the other characters and what it's like working with them?
Speaker 4:Sure, so I play Max Halliday. I'm the love interest of the actress, lauren, who plays Margo Wendis, and Lauren and I met this last summer here at CCT in the production of August Osage County, and so her character was originally played in the movie by Grace Kelly and she's really great and she's, she's amazing. Phil is Inspector Hubbard is. He might be kind of my most favorite character, cause, I don't know, I just like the police procedural aspect of it and he just brings a lot of fun to it. Um, and uh, uh, roki uh plays the I don't want to give away too much, but you know, plays the um the hired assassin.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, so there's a uh, it's a small cast, but everybody brings a lot to it.
Speaker 2:It's, it's a lot yes, would you mind talking about the costumes?
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, I would mind Lauren, who's playing Margo. She's going to be wearing that red dress.
Speaker 1:It's not the exact same red dress, of course, but she's wearing that bright red dress. The lady in red for the opening scene she's got some outstanding costumes. I think she might be kind of a collector of costumes because she stepped right into it and she's dressed for the period. And then the guys we're going to be dressing them pretty much period appropriate. We are trying to keep this set. It was set in the early 50s and we're doing our best, you know, within the confines of a community theater budget. We're doing our best, you know, within the confines of a community theater budget we're doing our best to to present that.
Speaker 2:Any other sort of icon other than the red dress, any other iconic costumes that people might recognize, or the props.
Speaker 4:Some of the props are kind of iconic. We've got the man our prop. Yeah, it's a prop heavy show which is interesting and it brings a lot of elements to it. You know, for me I always enjoy the costumes. That's kind of when I feel like it's kind of complete when you're in the costume. That's when I feel like everything kind of gels. But for this I feel like we could almost do it without the costumes, but there are certain props that are really key to it. It's a lot of fun. It's really interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the phone, even it's a period phone. It looks very much like the one that they used in the movie and it's actually got a dial on it which is hard to find these days. They've got push buttons in the place of the dials, but this actually has a dial, so we will be done. We had to teach Flynn how to dial a phone.
Speaker 3:Okay, so I did not know this but with dial phones you have to pick up the receiver before and then dial the number. And so Ken has given me this note and I keep repeating. I'm just like, okay, pick up the phone, then dial M. But yes, so I've done that multiple times for it. I just have to remember to pick up the darn phone.
Speaker 1:And it makes me feel really old.
Speaker 2:I assure you you are not. Would you mind telling us the dates of the Three on the Edge Festival or when people can come and see the show?
Speaker 1:Yes, let me pull out my sofa, I know, that we open next Friday. But let me see what that? I turned my phone off. What date is it?
Speaker 3:It's the 10th Friday the 10th, so Friday the 10th at 8 pm.
Speaker 1:Then two days later, on Sunday, because we're repping, we're doing a repertoire with the other two shows. So we have a Sunday matinee at 2.30 pm. The Saturday after that which would make it the 18th, I think, would be a matinee again for us. And then in the final weekend we have the Thursday night and Saturday night shows, and so for all of the shows, all three shows, the evening shows are always at 8 pm and then there's always going to be a matinee on Saturday and Sunday for one show or the other, and those will always be at 2.30 pm.
Speaker 2:And then would you mind talking about the rotating wrap aspect of the festival a little bit?
Speaker 3:I think what's an amazing part about this kind of series is you kind of get a little bit of everything. So with Dial M you get a very thrilling kind of murder mystery. With 39 Stamps you get this kind of comedic aspect of Hitchcock that a lot of people don't know about about. And with the Birds you get something that a different kind of perspective on a film that a lot of people have seen, and it's kind of seeing it in a different way. And it's one of those things where it feels like when you watch your favorite movie again, you always kind of find something new. So even though if you've come and you've seen these films in person before, you can still come to these amazing shows and see these amazing casts and you're still going to get something new out of it. And it brings a whole exciting aspect of watching Hitchcock on stage and not from the comfort of your living room. It's a very cool aspect of having all three shows together during the month of May.
Speaker 4:I will say I'm pretty excited to see the Birds because that's a Hitchcock fan. Maybe it's cliche, but I was always so captivated by that as a kid. It's one of those movies I like to re-watch. It just has such a unique look and feel to it. I'm really excited to see that on the stage. I've been tempted to look in when they're rehearsing back here and see, but I'm like'm really excited. I'm very curious to see how it's going to come out and again.
Speaker 2:Uh, because it's not all the same cast in the same show, so you have the ability to see the other shows in this festival, which I think is a really cool way for everyone to support each other yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And you know we're sharing the stage, we're sharing furniture. In some cases we can't share furniture, so each night we're having to move some stuff off and have and then we'll have to be moving other stuff on for the other shows. So it's just really great. The camaraderie is has been outstanding and the cooperation among among the directors and, I know, the casts uh is is essential, uh to be able to put on a, a series of three performances, you know, one after the other like this. So, uh, it's been a great experience in that regard.
Speaker 2:I I can't wait to see it. Thank you, uh, ken Jack and Flynn for joining me today and be sure to go see dial in for in 3D. Thank you very much for having us. Thanks so much, thank you. Thank you. Thanks for listening to Steps to the Stage and now it's time for the curtain call. You can follow us on Spotify, apple, google or any podcasting platform. We have videos up on YouTube and you can visit our website at stepstothestagebuzzsproutcom. And, as always, a special thank you to our audio engineer, joey Rice, and our producer, kirk Lane. Without the two of you, this show would not be possible.
