Review: DIAL M FOR MURDER at Pioneer Theatre Company is Suspensefully Executed

Pioneer Theatre Company’s co-production of DIAL M FOR MURDER with Arizona Theatre Company is a carefully plotted, suspensefully executed thriller that keeps the audience’s minds in motion.    

DIAL M FOR MURDER (adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the original by Frederick Knott) is a new gender-bent adaptation of the classic 1950s Broadway play and Hitchcock film, first commissioned and produced at The Old Globe in 2022.  An extra-marital affair and subsequent blackmail lead to a carefully arranged murder plot.  Will they get away with it?

The cast of professional actors is uniformly excellent with natural performances that draw you in. They include Awesta Zarif as Margot Wendice, Lucy Lavely as Maxine Hadley, Dan Domingues as Tony Wendice, Aaron Cammack as Lesgate, and Peter Howard as Inspector Hubbard.

The set by James Noone is sleek and open with dingy reflective paneling that mirrors and distorts the contents of the room, including Patrick Holt’s simple but appealing costumes.  The lighting by Tom Ontiveros sheds light on the action with a glowing focus on the characters and the inner workings of their thoughts, directed with finesse and introspection by Michael John Garcés. 

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DIAL M FOR MURDER plays through January 25, 2025. For tickets, call the box office at 801-581-6961 or visit www.pioneertheatre.org.

Photo Credit: BW Productions

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