A scene from “The Da Vinci Code”
What do you get when you blend a high-stakes killer thriller, an art museum, several hours in an escape room and Sunday Mass?
Straight from Dan Brown’s controversial novel-turned-movie, Theatre Harrisburg Director Janos Boon brings “The Da Vinci Code” to Harrisburg audiences. Executive Director Lorien Reese Mahay promises that the adaptation by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel changes the original story in surprising ways. So even if you’ve experienced another variation of this story, you’ll still want to grab your trusted cipher and immerse yourself into solving the puzzles and interpreting the symbols along with the brave co-protagonists. Clues with double meanings await you.
The fast-paced plot follows Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Glenn Hamilton) and cryptologist Sophie Neveu (Alexandra Johnson) after the murder of the Louvre’s curator, Jacques Sauniere (Francis Janton). Threaded through their international investigation, with each clue leading to a riddle, and then a puzzle, and then a key with a code inside it, and then conspiracy theories, the pair delve into hidden messages in famous works of art, the secret society The Priory of Sion, and chasing the carrot on the string that is the Holy Grail… all while being pursued by French police captain Bezu Fache (Chuck Bagley), Lieutenant Collet (Lindsey Shimp), and by various rogues with nefarious intentions.
The mood of this play is a character in its own right. Mask Designers (Kalina Barrett, Cole Barrett) and Sound Engineer (Grant Komm) set the mood perfectly, shrouding the ensemble cast in a heady mix of danger and mystery. Barrett and Barrett’s creepy masks feature famous artists, simultaneously weighted with all the mystique of Venice Carnavale and all the moodiness of Caravaggio’s paintings. Komm hangs the air with church chanting and disembodied voices. For a moment of suspended disbelief, I thought I was in church, to the point I almost genuflected when I left the theater.
As Sophie, Johnson’s performance was on point. She’s a sharp spitfire who’s too high-strung to be bothered with social niceties. With a seamless ability to cry on cue, I could almost see Johnson’s internal motor driving her to display almost constant raw emotion, right up until the tail end of her character arc when all plot points resolve.
Hamilton balances his co-protagonist’s energy with logical calm, presenting a likably bookish rule follower with a more casual sense of urgency. Just by being Langdon, Hamilton inserted well-timed comic relief just by bringing out the nerdiness inherent within his character.
Much like the Catholic Church, all the actors with smaller roles and lesser developed characters know their places, stay humble, serve gladly, and perform their jobs effectively.
As Langdon’s colleague, Leigh Teabing, Gabriel Cassata brings forth all his character’s unlikeable qualities without holding back: patronizing, smug, glib, and overly pleased with himself. Remy (Toby Bradbury) is another one-note sort of character; Bradbury finds that one note without deviating from the formula. Shimp plays two bureaucrat-type characters: Collet/Vernet. Both cut from the same archetype, Shimp succeeds in making two similar characters different enough to be distinguishable from each other. Andrea Stephenson plays Sister Sandrine cheerfully, with all the de-escalation skill of a terrorist negotiator or a classroom nun, even while being accosted by obsessed religious zealot Silas (Gabriel Guevara). Guevara admirably, painfully brings out his character’s tragic and conflicted nature, with motivations rooted in misguided faith.
I offer just one “to grow on” for this play–a distraction of sorts surrounding one of the setting elements. A large scaffolding occupies center stage, its purpose serving as my own personal puzzle. Whether it provided the stage with textural dimension, whether it offered its own symbology, or whether it served as a structural sepulcher of sorts, I’m still sitting here clicking different combinations on my cipher. But several times, I found myself wanting to flog it out of the way so that I could see the overhead screen that displays most of the clues that string the characters through the plot points. Rest assured, that minor technicality did not stop me from otherwise enjoying an incredibly riveting performance by a host of talented cast and crew members.
“The Da Vinci Code” runs through June 29 at the Krevsky Center, 513 Hurlock St., Harrisburg. For more information on show times and tickets, visit https://theatreharrisburg.com/shows/the-da-vinci-code/.
