“06880” culture correspondent Robin Moyer Chung writes:
For nearly 70 years — at a variety of locations — Westport Community Theater has been a Westport fixture.
They kick off their 69th season with “Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play.”
The script is adapted by Fairfield playwright Joe Landry, known for his “live radio shows.” (“They’re beloved by actors,” WCT president Sam Mink says, “because they don’t have to remember as much.”).
I was delighted by WCT’s last 2 productions, in the basement level of Town Hall — far better than I’d expected from community theater.
This show doesn’t hit that bar. The reason why is a tribute to WCT’s commitment, resilience and love of theater.
A quick review, then a bit about what went on behind the scenes.
The show transforms 3 early Alfred Hitchcock thrillers — “The Lodger,” “Sabotage” and “The 39 Steps” — into a 1940s-style radio broadcast, performed before a live audience.
It promises to be spooky, thrilling and witty. Let’s throw in “harrowing” for those of us in 2026 who are horrified at how blindly people trusted strangers back then.
In “The Lodger,” a father is okay with having a super-creepy stranger take his daughter to a music hall. In “The 39 Steps” a guy brings a woman to his apartment who just fired gunshots in a music hall to fend off her enemy assassins – and not for sex.
But it’s all in good fun.
Linda Gilmore and Sam Mink.
And this show tries to be fun. When the script charms, the cast charms. When it simply scatters bits to be gleaned and polished — especially in the radio “sponsorship” spots — the cast doesn’t pull them together. Sound effects and pacing lack their typical crispness.
The show, however, goes on.
Which is where it gets commendable.
Rehearsals were happily underway for the season’s kickoff production, “What the Constitution Means to Me,” a 2-character play. A few weeks before opening, one of the actors bowed out unexpectedly.
Not wanting to disappoint fans and ticket holders, the theater scrambled for another show. They chose “Vintage Hitchcock,” in part because they had success with another popular Landry show, “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.”
This meant frantically securing rights, and scurrying for a new cast and production staff to pull it off, (Remember, they’re volunteers).
Tom Rushen and John Bachelder. (Photos/Alexander Kulcsar)
Says WCT, “It’s been an intense, short rehearsal period,” and adds that Landry himself attended a rehearsal.
John Steinbeck wrote, “The theater is the only institution in the world which has been dying for 4,000 years and has never succumbed. It requires tough and devoted people to keep it alive.”
It certainly won’t succumb on WCT’s watch.
(“Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play” runs through October 4. Click here for dates, times and more information.)
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