Christie’s ‘Orient Express’ Pulls into MLT

Familiar characters, unfamiliar touches breathe new life into adaptation

By Bonnijean Cooney Adams
The Tube City Almanac
March 13, 2025
Posted in: Entertainment

Patrick Daniels (left) plays detective Hercule Poirot, with Mike Good as his friend and fellow investigator Monsieur Bouc. (Bonnijean Cooney Adams photo for Tube City Almanac)

McKeesport Little Theater’s latest production is a return to the murder mystery genre in Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of “Murder on the Orient Express.”

The classic play is based on a novel by the same name by Agatha Christie. It features one of her favorite characters, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and opens Friday (March 14) at 7:30 p.m.

Christie’s novel, as many of her other works, was inspired by real life experiences.

In the play, a young girl named Daisy Armstrong had been kidnapped and murdered, similar to what occurred to Charles Lindbergh’s son in a story that rocked the world in 1932. Christie also once was a passenger on the real Orient Express.

As the MLT play opens, Poirot, portrayed by Patrick Daniels, is returning to London from Istanbul and books passage on the Orient Express.

Although the train is full, Poirot enlists the aid of Monsieur Bouc (Mike Good), his friend and former co-worker with the Belgian police force. Bouc now directs the company that runs the Orient Express, so books Poirot’s passage.

Gavin Calgaro returned to McKeesport Little Theater to direct the play.

“This is my first time directing with MLT,” Calgaro said, but he appeared there recently as Clifford in “Deathtrap,” along with other regional credentials at various venues.

“I’ve always loved a good murder mystery, and Agatha Christie was one of the best,” Calgaro said.

“I wanted to ‘take a stab’ at this because of how unique each of the characters are,” he added, “and wanted to play around with the traditional storytelling of a murder mystery.”

While many planning to attend may already know the complete story so the ending is not a total surprise, newcomers to the show will get to experience the many twists and turns for the first time.

Without giving anything away, those on the train when it gets stuck in a snowstorm and one of the passengers is discovered dead all are connected, in one way or another, to the Armstrong case.

The cast of “Murder on the Orient Express” is ready to impress McKeesport Little Theater audiences in this classic murder mystery. (Bonnijean Cooney Adams photo for Tube City Almanac)

“This script is written almost like a movie script,” the director said, “with characters suddenly appearing and disappearing without warning, and with potentially challenging scene changes.

“I had a blast trying to bridge the gap between the script and reality by adding in effects for flashback sequences, big reveals, and scene changes,” Calgaro said.

“I think audiences should expect the unexpected for a story like this, even if they are familiar with the original piece, or any of its retelling in movies,” he said. “We’ve added a lot of cool little moments that may add or remove suspicion from characters, and question who you can actually trust.”

Some cast members are MLT veterans, but others are newcomers at the McKeesport theater.

“As for casting, I think it’s great that many of these cast members are new to MLT,” Calgaro said. “I’ve worked with many before in different capacities, so it felt like a dream come true when so much talent showed up at auditions.

“There was actually almost too much talent,” the director said. “I wish the show had even more characters!”

Among the characters are a countess, a princess, a missionary, an American “businessman” under an assumed name, and an actress. Each MLT actor’s role is key to the play.

Daniels’ connection to MLT includes as director of their entry in the 2024 New Works Festival.

“Honestly, I wanted this role,” he said of why he auditioned for Poirot. “Ken Ludwig brings a different, fast style to his adaptations.”

With many of the passengers coming together on that fateful trip from multiple countries, Daniels said cast members developed their own accents individually, not as a group, for their portrayals.

The relationship between Poirot and Bouc is key to investigating the onboard murder, although each has his own different approach.

Jim Kiley as Samuel Ratchett/Cassetti confronts Craig Soich as Hector McQueen in the latest MLT production. (Bonnijean Cooney Adams photo for Tube City Almanac)

MLT newcomer Good said he’s known director Calgaro since college, loves Agatha Christie’s work, and he gets to work with his wife in the show as reasons that he auditioned.

“I’ve been doing theater since high school,” Good said, “mostly musicals. It’s exciting to me to be working with MLT for the first time.”

As for working with Daniels, Good said their relationship as Poirot and Bouc “just clicked” early in rehearsals.

“Bouc and Poirot are good friends,” Good said. “Bouc looks up to him and aspires to be him. He’s also concerned about the image of his company with a murder on the train, and he tries to be helpful.”

Good said there are a lot of small comedy bits throughout the show that the audience should enjoy.

Good said his favorite parts of the show are when his character “has his moments where he loses his cool” but also his interactions with Poirot.

He said he’s more accustomed to musicals, so one challenge for “Orient Express” was learning all the dialogue.”

“I’m used to being able to go into a song as kind of a break, but you need to keep the energy level up without that through the speaking roles,” Good said.

Daniels said the Poirot/Bouc relationship developed naturally between himself and Good during rehearsals.

As the famous detective, Daniels said his favorite part is his interrogation of Hector MacQueen (Craig Soich), who he initially considered a prime suspect in the murder.

“He (Poirot) is thrown a curve ball,” Daniels said. “He came very close to solving the mystery at that point, but he didn’t.”

MLT veteran Mandy Eckenrode has a key role as Michele, the conductor on the train.

“This character is like the stage manager of the show,” Eckenrode said. “She is connected to all the passengers in some way, but she still has to drive the train. She’s very tightly wound.”

Set builder Dave Fleming was on hand at the start of tech week as usual.

“I’ve been doing this for 13 years now,” he said. “I played sports in high school, didn’t do theater. But I liked to build and work with wood.”

He said he’s enjoyed watching performers develop a skillset from the time some of them were involved in the theater’s Juniors program through adulthood.

“I’ve watched them evolve from shy and quiet to confident performers,” Fleming said.

Bonnijean Cooney Adams is a freelance contributor. She can be reached at adamsclick@aol.com.

CAST AND CREW

Patrick Daniels as Hercule Poirot
Mike Good as Monsieur Bouc
Elizabeth Glyptis as Mary Debenham
Craig Soich as Hector MacQueen
Mandy Eckenrode as Conductor Michel/Waiter
Olga Brinder as Princess Dragomiroff
Katie Ambramowich as Greta Ohlsson
Amanda Anne Leight as Countess Andrenyi
Justin Patrick Mohr as Colonel Arbuthnot
Katy Grant-Blair as Helen Hubbard/Linda Arden
Jim Kiley as Samuel Ratchett/Cassetti/Lead Understudy
Charlotte Getson – Female Swing
Mark Barrett – Male Swing

Gavin Calgaro, director
Sierra Mitchell, producer
Bry Zanotelli, production manager (sound and lighting designer, set painter, overseer of costumes and props)
Lauren Scheller-Wolf, stage manager
Dave Fleming, set builder
Amanda Anne Leight, special assistant in procuring costumes and set pieces

Originally published March 13, 2025.

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