All Thumbs

Actors’ Playhouse fumbles comic mystery

By Mary Damiano

Thumbs runs through May 25 at Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables.

What happened to Actors’ Playhouse’s season? Back in October, everything looked so bright, with the sumptuously mounted Urinetown, a musical that showed off the company’s production values and willingness to take risks with its material. Then came the downright pedestrian Altar Boyz and the abysmal Footloose, the Musical, which showcased none of the chutzpah of the season opener. Only the tight little bio-drama Martha Mitchell Calling lived up to the promise of Urinetown, though in a completely different way.

Now, there’s Thumbs, a comic mystery by Rupert Holmes, the guy who wrote “Escape (The Piña Colada Song),” that infectious 1979 pop ode to personal ads. Thumbs involves a vain TV actress (Barbara Sloan), her vengeful ex-husband (Allan Baker), her tennis instructor lover (Zolan Henderson), a shrewd lady sheriff (Angie Radosh) and a dim-witted deputy (Wayne Steadman). These characters all converge in an isolated Vermont cabin one winter, amid the backdrop of a string of serial murders by a killer the press has dubbed Tom Thumb, because the thumbs of the victims were severed from their cold, dead hands. It’s one of those old-fashioned cozy mysteries, where there’s not much action, everyone talks about what happened and no one is quite what they seem. 

There are a couple of ways to take Thumbs. One is that it’s just a lousy script, with a convoluted plot, ridiculous red herrings and cheesy dialogue — one character actually says, “This is what it feels like to die.” But Holmes is generally a clever guy, and maybe the script is cheesy on purpose, meant to be played broad and over the top, which is not how it’s being done on Miracle Mile.

One of the problems is that Thumbs is being performed in the cavernous main theater, which does not allow the intimacy that would benefit the cozy comic thriller. The smaller upstairs space at the Miracle Theatre might have drawn the audience in and let it be a part of the joke. The other problem is that director David Arisco doesn’t allow his talented cast to go hog wild with the material, as the dialogue dictates. It’s played much too straightforward, much too on the level.

Thumbs does have a few things going for it. The scenic design by Gene Seyffer is a realistic rendering of a mountain cabin. The banter between Sloan and Radosh is fun, and the show has the most life whenever Radosh is onstage.

Thumbs is not good enough to give a thumbs-up, but it’s not bad enough for a thumbs-down. We’ll give it half a thumb.

Thumbs runs through May 25 at Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables. Showtimes are Wednesday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.  Call 305-444-9293 or visit www.actorsplayhouse.org.