Theft on Third

Theft on Third ***1/2
I will start off by saying something positive about Sammy’s performance and that is: in spite of not being prepared, he at least had the courage and recognition of his responsibility that he go on the stage and fulfill his commitment. I will give him credit for that – not much else – but I will give him credit for that. Now it would be remiss of me to NOT state that his unprepared performance brought the quality of the show down – this could have easily been a 4 or 41/2 star show if it were not for that. More importantly, Sammy is an intelligent young man and a pretty fine actor and I would love to see him make a serious commitment as I feel he would have done a tremendous job – as indicated by the occasional moments where he was comfortable enough with his lines that he could actually act a little in role. What really made this show was the fairly sharp and intelligent private eye script by Evan and Marina’s solid direction. Her use of the stage, the intimate blocking, and the whole Maltese Falcon feel was exquisite. Two criticisms though: the script was still a bit muddy at Vitelli’s house and the background music often interfered with the dialogue. There is nothing wrong with keeping music on in the background – especially given the genre – but simply lower the volume during scenes and then raise it during transitions. In terms of performance, where Sammy lacked in preparedness, Khadeja was an inspiration and a role model for others to learn from as she captured the femme fatale magnificently. Susan, Daniel and Emma provided strong support in their respective genre-specific archetypal roles and Eliza’s set and Misha’s costumes rounded out the vision beautifully.