Reviews are in for Murder On The Orient Express at Chichester Festival Theatre.
Adapted from Agatha Christie’s masterpiece by Ken Ludwig, whose Olivier and Tony Award-winning stage works include Lend Me a Tenor and Crazy for You, this spectacular and sumptuous new staging is directed by former CFT Artistic Director Jonathan Church (Amadeus, Singin’ in the Rain) with design by Robert Jones (Oklahoma!, Mack & Mabel).
Double Olivier Award-winner Henry Goodman stars as the iconic Belgium detective Hercule Poirot, returning to Chichester following his appearances in Yes, Prime Minister (2010) and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (2012/13).
Murder On The Orient Express runs until 4 June 2022 at Chichester Festival Theatre.
Read a round up of reviews for Murder On The Orient Express below.
"Watch out, David Suchet, there's a superb new Poirot in town"
"Henry Goodman is mesmerising in Chichester Festival Theatre's handsome production of Agatha Christie's whodunit"
"A first-class ride all the way"
"Henry Goodman gives us every inch of Hercule Poirot’s dandiness and comedy in this exemplary adaptation of Christie’s ingenious murder mystery, but also gets every note of the character’s vast intelligence and pain"
"Henry Goodman is outstanding"
"Goodman has entirely cracked the mystery of how to put a new spin on the world’s most famous, most Belgian detective."
"Jonathan Church’s production does its best to make something fresh and theatrical of a tale with arguably the most familiar solution in the Christie canon. Robert Jones’s design does a fine job of getting us in among the action — moving dining tables and sleeping carriages across the stage in different formations — less so of bringing any sense of confinement, of tension."
"Perfect Poirot"
"Henry Goodman gives us the perfect Poirot – and pretty much everything else flows from there on another impressive night in Chichester Festival Theatre’s unfolding 60th anniversary season."
"If there’s a real niggle with the production – one that the genuine Agatha Christie anoraks might advance (and I am definitely amongst them) – it’s that the production plays it far too much for laughs."
"Henry Goodman steps cleanly from the Suchet shadow"
"It is a joy of a performance, completely Goodman’s own, and one that, surely, Ms Christie would smile benevolently upon."
"The rest of the cast, too, give strong performances."
"This show is to die for."
"This new adaptation gives both devotees and newcomers to the charms of Monsieur Poirot exactly what they want."
"The set is dazzling. From the train itself, to the carriages and the costumes this truly is a no expense spared piece of escapism from a world in economic squeeze."
