Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express Cast and Creative Announcement

The Old Globe
announces the full cast and creative team of
the West Coast premiere of
Agatha Christie’s
Murder on the Orient Express,
adapted for the stage by Tony Award nominee Ken Ludwig,
directed by Peter Amster

Performances begin September 7 and run to October 6, 2024,
with the opening on Thursday, September 12

Tickets are available at www.TheOldGlobe.org

PHOTO EDITORS: Photos of the Globe’s production of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express can be found here.

SAN DIEGO (August 14, 2024) The Old Globe is pleased to announce the full cast and creative team for Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, adapted for the stage by Tony Award nominated playwright Ken Ludwig (Broadway’s Lend Me a Tenor, Crazy for You) and directed by Peter Amster (Asolo Repertory Theatre’s Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, Indiana Repertory Theatre’s Sense and Sensibility). Rehearsals are underway for the West Coast premiere, which plays on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, from September 7 to October 6, 2024, with the official opening night on Thursday, September 12. Tickets are available at www.TheOldGlobe.org.

Get ready for a glamorous and enthralling journey in this adaptation of Agatha Christie’s masterpiece. On a train traveling through Europe, a wealthy American tycoon is found dead in his compartment, the door locked from the inside. Enter world-famous detective Hercule Poirot, who must navigate a train full of suspects and solve the murder before the killer strikes again. With humor and romance, audiences will experience a thrill ride in a spectacular production whose gorgeous designs and innovative staging are a true knockout.

“Ken Ludwig is a great friend of The Old Globe, and we’re thrilled to welcome him back with his absolutely amazing new adaptation of one of the greatest detective stories there is,” said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. “Murder on the Orient Express is Agatha Christie’s masterpiece, and in Ludwig’s hands it delivers fresh jolts of excitement, suspense, and surprise.” Edelstein added, “Peter Amster’s production puts a train onstage with uncommon invention and breathtaking imagery, and the cast is top-shelf. Murder on the Orient Express is a simply spectacular evening of theatre: entertaining, fun, and exciting. I’m delighted to bring it to San Diego.”

The cast for Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express includes Sam Ashdown (Lamb’s Players Theatre’s Jane, People’s Light’s Sense and Sensibility) as Colonel Arbuthnot; Rajesh Bose (Broadway’s Life of Pi, Off Broadway’s Pygmalion) as Michel and Marcel; David Breitbarth (Asolo Repertory Theatre’s Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, Rhinoceros) as Monsieur Bouc; Karole Foreman (Pasadena Playhouse’s Jelly’s Last Jam, Cygnet Theatre’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill) as Princess Dragomiroff; Marquis D. Gibson (Broadway’s Fat Ham, Studio Theatre’s Wig Out) as Hector MacQueen; Maya Gimbel (Kids on Stage Productions’s Peter Pan, Frozen) as Daisy Armstrong; Mylinda Hull (Broadway’s Mr. Saturday Night, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) as Helen Hubbard; Ariella Kvashny (The Old Globe’s Destiny of Desire, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!) as Countess Andrenyi; Helen Joo Lee (Goodman Theatre’s Penelopiad, Asolo Repertory Theatre’s Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express) as Mary Debenham; Giancarlo Lugo (La Jolla Playhouse’s POP Tour of Abeba in the Tall Grass, San Diego Musical Theatre’s Urinetown the Musical) as Ensemble; Sophia Oberg (The Old Globe’s The Age of Innocence, San Diego JFest’s Hereville) as Greta Ohlsson; Matthew Patrick Quinn (National Tours of Hadestown, Finding Neverland) as Samuel Ratchett; Larissa Ryan (Patchwork Theatre’s Crimes of the Heart, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds) as Ensemble; Andrew Sellon (Asolo Repertory Theatre’s The Grapes of Wrath, The Curtain Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet) as Hercule Poirot; Addison Smyres (San Diego Opera’s Madama Butterfly, Kids on Stage Productions’ Peter Pan) as Daisy Armstrong; Maya Sofia (OnStage Playhouse’s Star of Ocotillo, San Diego Musical Theatre’s Rent) as Ensemble; and Samuel Young (Blindspot Collective’s Kagitingan, Scripps Ranch Theatre’s Return Engagements) as Ensemble.

Understudies for Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express include Alyssa Anne Austin for Mary Debenham and Ensemble; Christine Hewitt for Princess Dragomiroff and Helen Hubbard; Giancarlo Lugo for Hector MacQueen; Larissa Ryan for Greta Ohlsson; Maya Sofia for Countess Andrenyi; Ben Williams for Colonel Arbuthnot and Samuel Ratchett; Eddie Yaroch for Hercule Poirot and Monsieur Bouc; and Samuel Young for Michel and Marcel.

Also, joining Ludwig and Amster as part of the creative team for the Globe’s production of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express are Paul Tate dePoo III (Scenic Design), Tracy Dorman (Costume Design), JAX Messenger (Lighting Design), Matthew Parker (Sound Design), Greg Emetaz (Projection Design), Gregg Coffin (Composer), Emmelyn Thayer (Dialect Coach), Tara Rubin Casting/Claire Burke, CSA (Casting), and Anjee Nero (Production Stage Manager).

Bios and photos of all participants can be found at www.TheOldGlobe.org/Press-Room.

This production of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express originally appeared at Asolo Repertory Theatre in January 2020.

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express will play on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, from September 7 to October 6, 2024, with the official opening night on Thursday, September 12 at 7:00 p.m. Ticket prices start at $34 and are available online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE (234-5623), and in person at The Old Globe’s Box Office in Balboa Park (1363 Old Globe Way). The Vicki and Carl Zeiger Insights Seminar, scheduled for Tuesday, September 10 at 6:00 p.m., will provide patrons an exploration of the themes and background of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express from selected artistic company members. BIPOC Theatre Night is scheduled on Friday, September 13 at 6:30 p.m. Post-Show Forum events will be held on Tuesday, September 17, Wednesday, September 18, and Wednesday, October 2 (evening performance). The Open-Caption Performance is scheduled for Saturday, October 5 (matinee performance). This production includes mild language and violence. Visit www.TheOldGlobe.org for a full schedule and additional information.

An opening night post-show receptions for the cast and donors will be held in Hattox Hall, located in the Karen and Donald Cohn Education Center, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is supported by lead production sponsors Terry Atkinson, Paula and Brian Powers, and Evelyn Mack Truitt*; major production sponsors Diane Berol in memory of John Berol, Elizabeth Cushman, Irwin Jacobs in memory of Joan Jacobs, and United; production sponsors Ann Davies, Pamela Farr and Buford Alexander, Les J. Silver and Andrea Rothschild-Silver, and Philip and Margarita Wilkinson; and artist sponsors California Bank & Trust (for director Peter Amster) and The Donna Van Eekeren Foundation (for Andrew Sellon as Hercule Poirot). *In memoriam.

Financial support for The Old Globe is provided by The City of San Diego. The Theodor and Audrey Geisel Fund provides leadership support for The Old Globe’s year-round activities.

The Tony Award–winning The Old Globe is one of the country’s leading professional nonprofit regional theatres. Now in its 90th year, the Globe is San Diego’s flagship performing arts institution, and it serves a vibrant community by creating theatre that lives beyond the stage. Under the leadership of Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Audrey S. Geisel Managing Director Timothy J. Shields, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 16 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages, including its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people annually attend Globe productions and participate in the theatre’s artistic and arts engagement programs. Its nationally prominent Arts Engagement Department provides an array of participatory programs that make theatre matter to more people in neighborhoods throughout the region. Humanities programs at the Globe and around the city broaden the community’s understanding of theatre art in all its forms. The Globe also boasts a range of new play development programs with professional and community-based writers, as well as the renowned The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. Numerous world premieres—such as 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Bright Star, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!—have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theatres across the country.

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