Holmes and a large rodent invade OCC next weekend

Tom Titus

Between them, Jack Sharkey and Tim Kelly have performed basically the

same services to the theater as Mad Magazine’s “usual gang of idiots”

have rendered to serious literature.

Sharkey, the late Orange County playwright -- so prolific he wrote

under several pseudonyms -- was the first to envision turning

“Dracula” into a musical. Kelly did a number on Tennessee Williams

with his satirical “Murder in the Magnolias.” Both bypassed the

jugular vein on their way to the funny bone.

When these two manic minds merged, they concocted a Sherlock

Holmes mystery that Arthur Conan Doyle never imagined in his 61

stories about the master detective. They called it “Sherlock Holmes

and the Giant Rat of Sumatra,” with Kelly furnishing the script and

Sharkey (also a skilled pianist) supplying the music and lyrics.

Orange Coast College has seized upon this work by the celebrated

“masters of musical nonsense” and will offer it for a two-weekend

engagement opening next Thursday under the direction of Alex Golson.

“There was but one Sherlock Holmes story that was never written

down by the meticulous Dr. Watson, and that story was ‘The Giant Rat

of Sumatra,’ Golson said. “This engaging Victorian spoof provides the

explanation as to why Dr. Watson failed to capture the story on

paper.”

The cast of characters is a who’s who of the Victorian era. In

addition to Holmes, Watson, Professor Moriarty, Inspector Lestrade

and Mrs. Hudson, playgoers will encounter Mata Hari, Jack the Ripper

and Queen Victoria herself.

Impersonating these real and imaginary characters at OCC will be

Rudolph Neimann (Holmes), Michael Cavinder (Watson), Sean Gray

(Moriarty), Harriett Whitmyer (Mrs. Hudson), Teddy Spencer (Lestrade)

and Sean Engard (Jack the Ripper).

Others in the cast are Heather Leanna, Megan Zuliam, Katie

McGuire, Andrew Vonderschmitt, Emily Rued, Jessica Barnes, Lauren

Kushin, Chanel Panagiotopoulous, David Reider, Hal Golson and Jeremy

Spandorff.

The property list also is unique -- a jeweled dagger, miniature

chamber, opium den, some immobilizing gas and a hideous idol. Despite

these ominous accouterments, the college describes it as a show

“suitable for the entire family.”

“Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra” opens next Thursday

and will be staged at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and at 2

p.m. Sundays. It will close May 18.

* TOM TITUS’ reviews run Thursdays and Saturdays.