Wait Until Dark is a play by
Frederick KnottFrederick Major Paull Knott was an English playwright, best known for writing the London-based stage thriller Dial M for Murder, which was later filmed in Hollywood by Alfred Hitchcock....
.
The
mysteryCrime fiction is the genre of fiction that deals with crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
thriller's heroine is Susy Hendrix, a blind
Greenwich VillageGreenwich Village , often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families. Greenwich Village, however, was known in the late 19th – earlier to mid 20th...
housewife who becomes the target of three thugs searching for the
heroinHeroin, or diacetylmorphine , also known as diamorphine , is a semi-synthetic opioid drug synthesized from morphine, a derivative of the opium poppy. It is the 3,6-diacetyl ester of morphine...
hidden in a doll, which her husband transported from
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
as a favor to a woman who since has been
murderMurder, as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ed. The trio tries to convince Susy her spouse has been implicated in the crime and the only way to protect him is to surrender the doll.
Wait Until Dark is a play by
Frederick KnottFrederick Major Paull Knott was an English playwright, best known for writing the London-based stage thriller Dial M for Murder, which was later filmed in Hollywood by Alfred Hitchcock....
.
The
mysteryCrime fiction is the genre of fiction that deals with crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
thriller's heroine is Susy Hendrix, a blind
Greenwich VillageGreenwich Village , often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families. Greenwich Village, however, was known in the late 19th – earlier to mid 20th...
housewife who becomes the target of three thugs searching for the
heroinHeroin, or diacetylmorphine , also known as diamorphine , is a semi-synthetic opioid drug synthesized from morphine, a derivative of the opium poppy. It is the 3,6-diacetyl ester of morphine...
hidden in a doll, which her husband transported from
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
as a favor to a woman who since has been
murderMurder, as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ed. The trio tries to convince Susy her spouse has been implicated in the crime and the only way to protect him is to surrender the doll. More murder and mayhem ensue when she refuses, with the stage lights turned off for the final scene when Suzy levels the playing field by plunging her apartment into total darkness.
After seven previews, the
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
production, directed by
Arthur PennArthur Hiller Penn is a film director and producer with a hefty background as a theatre director as well. Although best known as the director of Bonnie and Clyde , Penn amassed a critically acclaimed body of work though the 1960s and 1970s, keenly focusing on themes relevant to the...
, opened on February 2 1966 at the
Ethel Barrymore TheatreThe Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 243 West 47th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp and constructed by the Shuberts, it opened on December 20 1928 with The Kingdom of God, a play selected by leading lady Ethel Barrymore...
. Within the next eleven months, it transferred to the
ShubertThe Shubert Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 225 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan, New York, United States.Designed by architect Henry Beaumont Herts, it was named after Sam S. Shubert, the second oldest of the three brothers of the theatrical producing family...
, the
George AbbottThe Adelphi Theatre , originally named the Craig Theatre, opened on December 24, 1928. The Adelphi was located at 152 West 54th Street in New York City, with 1,434 seats.. The theater was taken over by the Federal Theater Project in 1934 and renamed the Adelphi...
, and the
Music Box TheatreThe Music Box Theater is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 239 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.The once most aptly named theater on Broadway, the intimate Music Box was designed by architect C. Howard Crane and constructed by composer Irving Berlin and producer Sam H. Harris...
s before it ended its run of 374 performances. The cast included
Lee RemickLee Ann Remick was an American film and television actress. Among her best-known films are Anatomy of a Murder , Days of Wine and Roses , and The Omen .-Early life:...
,
Robert DuvallRobert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards....
, and
Mitchell RyanMitchell Ryan is an American actor most recently known for playing Edward Montgomery on the sitcom Dharma & Greg. He also worked with his on-screen wife from Dharma & Greg, Susan Sullivan, in the short-lived series Julie Farr, M.D..Ryan was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Louisville,...
. Remick was nominated for the
Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are for Broadway productions and...
for Best Actress in a Play.
The
West EndWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland". Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking world...
production with
Honor BlackmanHonor Blackman is an English actress, who is perhaps best known for the roles of Cathy Gale in The Avengers and as Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.-Early life:...
was far more successful, running nearly two years.
After eleven previews, a revival directed by
Leonard FogliaLeonard Foglia is an American theatre director, librettist, and novelist.Foglia made his Broadway debut as the assistant director of The Heidi Chronicles in 1989...
opened on April 5 1998 at the
Brooks Atkinson TheatreThe Brooks Atkinson Theatre is a Broadway theater located at 256 West 47th Street in Manhattan.Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, it was constructed as the Mansfield Theatre by the Chanin brothers in 1926. After 1933, the theatre fell into relative disuse until 1945, when Michael Myerberg...
, where it ran for 97 performances. The cast included
Marisa TomeiMarisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Tomei first came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987....
,
Quentin TarantinoQuentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s he was an independent filmmaker whose films used nonlinear storylines and aestheticization of violence...
, and
Stephen LangStephen Lang is an American film actor who started in theatre on Broadway. He is currently co-artistic director of the famed Actor's Studio at its headquarters in New York City...
.
A 2003 London revival, followed by a
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
tour, featured
Susie AmySusie Amy is an English actress most famous for her role as Chardonnay Lane-Pascoe in the first two seasons of Footballers' Wives.-Biography:...
,
Derren NesbittDerren Nesbitt is an English actor who was in demand in the 1960s and 1970s for roles that combined the muscular and the debonair, sometimes as Nazi German villains in films centred on the events of the Second World War.Born in London, the son of South African comedian Harry Nesbitt, he was best...
, and
Michael MeliaMichael Melia is an established British actor best known for his work on television.Melia was born in Berkshire and attended St. Mary's College, Twickenham, the oldest Roman Catholic college in England. Before taking up acting he was a teacher. At one stage he ran a bar in Spain and thought about...
. The setting was changed to
Notting HillNotting Hill is an area in West London, England close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
.
US Productions
Peninsula Players Theatre, Fish Creek (Door County), Wisconsin - August 19 through September 6th, 2009 Video Clip:
http://www.stagechannel.com/video.php?ebc=OdcTtzHqPtwg Website:
http://www.peninsulaplayers.com