Synopsis

Hartford Stage production of Murder on the Orient Express. Photo Credit: T. Charles Erickson.

The play opens with a scene of domestic tranquility, of a little girl getting ready for bed with her beloved nanny. Moments later, her bedroom door opens to a hulking shadow and the little girl screams.

Lights rise on the famed sleuth, Hercule Poirot, who addresses the audience, telling them about the story they will soon witness and the mystery that will soon unfold. After Poirot’s introduction, the audience joins him at the dining room of the Tokatlian Hotel in Istanbul in 1934. On the opposite side of the dining room, a young English woman, Mary Debenham, and her Scottish beau, Colonel Arbuthnot, speak in hushed tones and notice that Poirot is watching their interaction. Also in the dining room are Mrs. Hubbard, a flamboyant American, and a nervous young man, Hector McQueen, also American. As Poirot observes these characters, he is greeted by a friend, Monsieur Bouc, who lives in Istanbul. Bouc runs the train line, and the famed Orient Express. Poirot had planned on vacationing in Istanbul, but has been called back to England for a case, and will be traveling on the train alongside Bouc, who is also headed back west.

On the train platform, passengers and workers bustle about preparing for their journey on the glamorous Orient Express. Michel, the conductor, is double-checking passengers and preparations. Princess Dragomiroff and Greta, a missionary and a paid assistant for the Princess, arrive on the platform and chat with Michel. Samuel Ratchett, a boisterous American businessman, scolds McQueen, who is in his employ and the audience met earlier at the hotel. They discuss a series of threatening letters that Ratchett has received. After a mix-up with Poirot’s accommodations is resolved, the Countess Andrenyi arrives, sweeping onto the platform in a whirl of glamour and beauty. Mrs. Hubbard is the last to arrive, and makes quite the impression with her larger-than-life personality.

SYNOPSIS (CONT.)

Cast of the Hartford Stage production. Photo Credit: T. Charles Erickson.

Poirot indicates that something feels wrong and there is tension that makes him “frightened.” Some foreshadowing of what’s to come?

The passengers begin to settle into the journey and Ratchett approaches Poirot in the dining car, asking him to look into the threatening letters Ratchett has received. Poirot refuses, even as Ratchett offers him a large sum of money to take on the case. Ratchett then propositions the Countess, for which he receives a slap across the face. The train begins to roll and heavy snow falls outside the windows.

The passengers prepare for bed in their cabins, and Mrs. Hubbard and Ratchett have a conflict over her late-night singing. Later that evening, Michel calls for potential emergency assistance as the snow is getting very heavy and the train is heading into the mountains.

Mary and Arbuthnot meet and discuss Mary’s doubts about whatever they have planned, but Arbuthnot quells her worries with logic and romance. As McQueen interrupts their canoodling, the train stops and is caught in a snowdrift. Mrs. Hubbard awakes to a man in her room and she alerts Monsieur Bouc of the intruder. Bouc shares this and the train stoppage situation with Poirot, who is concerned as to what may happen on the journey yet to come.

The next morning, the passengers pass each other in the hall, sharing pleasantries. McQueen tries to deliver Ratchett’s breakfast, but there is no answer. With the assistance of Poirot and Bouc, they break in the door of his cabin to find him dead and covered in blood.

With the snow coming down, the passengers trapped, and a murderer on the loose, it is up to the intrepid Detective Poirot to solve the case of the murder on the Orient Express.

Julie Halston as Helen Hubbard in the Hartford Stage production. Photo Credit: T. Charles Erickson.