Alley Theatre's 'Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery' is a delight from start to finish

Featuring the last performance from company mainstay Todd Waite before retirement, this production is fresh, funny and wildly entertaining.

By Doni Wilson, for The Houston Chronicle

In playwright Ken Ludwig’s adaptations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation of Sherlock Holmes and his ingenious solutions to mysteries, you get the thrill of the hunt for the killer, but also some killer comedy.

Detective Holmes on the page of Doyle’s novels ("The Hound of the Baskervilles" being one of the most beloved) is brooding and cerebral, his perfectionism offset by his more laid-back sidekick in crime solving, Dr. Watson.

Remember the gloomy 1939 black and white film with Basil Rathbone? Maybe not, you young thing you, but this production isn't that.

It’s not only fun, it’s laugh out loud funny. It is also an outstanding production. Let me count the ways:

First, after 6 productions of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, can we even imagine anyone but Todd Waite in this role? I haven’t a clue who could replace him. The audience was aware that this is Waite’s last production as a full-time member of the Alley’s Resident Acting Company, and it was wonderful to see their appreciation for his immense talent and decades of winning performances. Hopefully this Houston icon will agree to keep performing in future productions.

Waite is superb as Holmes (“a ciphering machine”), and his pained laments when he makes a mistake in detection are hilarious. He knows how to make something funny without making it ridiculous, and we love his partnership with Watson (an excellent and engaging Christopher Salazar.) The notion of them solving this mystery on two fronts is fun and allows both actors to shine. They play the roles in a way that goes against English understatement, and it is glorious cocktail of British humor shaken and stirred with the delightful detection that has made British mysteries so addictive.

But hang on. This play also features three actors who play over 40 characters. Elizabeth Bunch, Dylan Godwin, and Brandon Hearnsberger perform a dizzying array of roles that require completely different ages, accents, physicality, and costume changes that require lightning speed. Just when you think you have seen it all, another character emerges and it is comedy gold.

Although a true ensemble cast, each actor is stunning and superlative in their own way. Whether a street kid or a Scottish nurse, Bunch rolls out each character with an energy that is hard to match. Godwin, who never fails to deliver, can play everything from a tobacco dealer to a tall Texan, and Hearnsberger makes the impossible look easy whether playing a suspicious butterfly catcher or an Italian hotelier.

And did I mention the costumes? You might lose count of the costume changes for Sarah Cubbage’s impeccable and entertaining designs. But you will never forget the avalanche of character and costume changes which catapult this production into being something truly remarkable. Through the miracle of eavesdropping, it was heard that four people are at the ready for each quicksilver costume change. And at times the change is done on stage—an adorable meta-wink this show’s ability to make fun of itself that the audience ate up at each turn.

Before the show even starts, it is impossible not to marvel at John Coyne’s detailed and dead-on scenic design. The sheer logistics of how the sets move is impressive. From coats of arms to, well, coats of all kinds, the set, sound and lighting dovetail with each character’s moves in a way that defies belief. The Alley really delivers with sets, but this time it hits you like a hound to the neck—very effective. From thunder to howls, from gunshots to lugubrious violins, Melanie Chen Cole’s sound design and Alberto Segarra’s lighting design all fits together like a fantastic puzzle that creates the right tone and atmosphere for each scene.

In “Baskerville,” you may be in the dead end of rural Devonshire, but you are also in Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street abode, Baskerville Hall with its hall of portraits that you will never forget, train stations, hotel lobbies, city streets and treacherous liminal spaces like murky fog filled moors where maybe you will encounter a deadly hound, or meet a new girlfriend. The juxtaposition of traditional detection and the firehose of comedy and wit is terrific.

Anything can happen in this production, and not knowing what will happen next is part of the rush. Like all good mysteries, the answer isn’t immediate.

Through Eleanor Holdridge’s heroic direction, you can adapt something as sacrosanct or iconic as Sherlock Holmes with a comedic touch, without demolishing it: instead, it is creating an act of delight and homage that makes you love it even more.