Puzzle for Players
Patrick QuentinBACKSTAGE
BEDLAM ON THE GREAT WHITE WAY
Peter Duluth was staging a comeback on Broadway as
producer-director of a promising script by an unheralded playwright. But a
deadly drama was being re-enacted in the long-uninhabited Dragonet Theater.
Shocking apparitions were seen in dressing room mirrors; rats were set free beneath
the boards; and the coffin scene ended in some unfortunately realistic mummery.
Onstage the dramatis personae included Iris, the future Mrs.
Duluth, making her stage and romantic debut; Mirabelle, the world-weary leading
lady; Lionel, the veteran bit player; and Wessler, the famed Austrian actor.
But behind-the-scenes a beautiful ghost, a man with no face, and a phantom
saboteur were vying for the lead.
“This Broadway mystery has sound construction, brilliant
dialogue, suspense and an atmosphere of genuine horror.”
THE LONDON OBSERVER