REVIEW: “Arsenic” proves death can be fun

Although it sounds like an oxymoron, “Arsenic and Old Lace” has been poking fun at the macabre for half a century and the current Old Lyric production of the dark comedy proves once again that death can a funny business.

It’s obvious from the outset that some of the characters in this standard of the American stage are, well, nuts. In fact, Mortimer Brewster (Kent Hadfield) notes to his fiance Elaine (Katie Ackerman) that insanity doesn’t run in the Brewster family, it gallops. The first obvious odd ball is Teddy Brewster (Jed Broberg), who has long thought he was Teddy Roosevelt and charges up San Juan Hill, er, ah, the stairs several time a day to his cabinet meetings. Broberg brings a likeable charm to his Teddy character, but maybe falls just one notch short of the overdone goofiness we need to see from Pres. Roosevelt.

The audience is introduced in the second act to long-lost brother Johnathan Brewster (Dan Merket) and he is loony, too, in a nasty Boris Karloff-kind of way. Johnathan and his sidekick Dr. Einstein (W. Lee Daily) play off each other well and dominate the production’s midsection. In fact, “Arsenic” takes a while to find it’s legs, but a scene played with limited lighting — a couple of dead bodies flopping about, window seats slamming and corpses thumping their way down the cellar steps — is what pushes this production into an easy-laughing mode that it keeps to the very end. Daily in the dark is a laugh-out-loud moment and a nod to OLRC lighting designer Bruce Duerden for making the atmosphere perfect. Speaking of perfect, the creaky old stairs are almost a character themselves.

Daily ends up doing Peter Lorre (who played Dr. Einstein in the 1944 Frank Capra classic) better than Peter Lorre.

Which brings us to sisters Martha and Abby Brewster (Jackie Fullmer and Jan Hines). Are they just likable old ladies or perfect candidates for the funny farm, as well? Thereby hangs the comedic edge of “Arsenic” and it is played very well by these local stage jewels. Except for being a little too pat-happy — not being able to keep their hands off other characters — the pair bring a delightful charm and precision to their characters that serves as a glue to the production all evening long.

Tyson Smith (a bit irritating as a lead in “The Fantasticks”) is a big hit as Officer O’Hara and in a limited role, Cory Castillo (playing Lt. Rooney) puts just the right amount of color and splash on his character, relying a lot on his voice and body language.

Hadfield loosens up just in time to get right into the middle of all the looniness, as he tries to be the sane one of the family. He could push his character even a bit more over the top, to be a bit more desperate, and he may as the season goes along. But he definitely grows on the audience as the play unfolds. His interactions with a confused Ackerman (“Are we getting married or aren’t we?”) are the best part of his interplay.

A wonderful final scene with lots of laughs ensures that “Arsenic and Old Lace” will likely end up being the audience favorite this summer.

Arsenic and Old Lace

Directed by Corey Ewan

Running time: 2 hours 42 minutes, two intermissions

Running in repertory at the Caine Lyric Theater, 28 West Center, Logan