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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

CALLING ALL BAKER STREET IRREGULARS: “THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES” HOWLS @ NJ REP AS A NEW COMEDY

hound

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
A SIDE-SPLITTING NEW COMEDY
New Jersey Premiere
By Steven Canny and John Nicholson
Directed by Mark Shanahan

WHEN: April 19 - May 27, Thursdays, Fridays at 8 PM; Saturdays at 3 PM & 8 PM; Sundays at 2 PM (with selected Sundays at 7 PM).
WHERE: New Jersey Repertory Company, 179 Broadway, Long Branch
TICKETS: Regular adult $40; Previews $35; Opening night with reception $60. Opening night is Sat, April 21, at 8 PM
Discounts are available to seniors (65+), students (full-time 13-25), and Veterans.*
*Discounts and coupons not valid on Saturday nights.
Special reduced price previews are on Thursday and Friday, April 19, 20 at 2 PM & 8 PM
Call 732.229.3166 for tickets or visit online www.njrep.org

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a hilarious comedy about a rag-tag theatrical troupe traveling through the British provinces performing Arthur Conan Doyle’s spine-tingling thriller. The three itinerant actors are faced with a formidable and seemingly insurmountable challenge when they have to conjure not only Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, but a cavalcade of loony and sinister characters including the demonic hound from hell that has been knocking off the male heirs of the Baskerville dynasty for generations.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the famous writer and physician, gained notoriety as the creator of Sherlock Holmes and is considered to be the father of the crime fiction genre along with Edgar Allan Poe. Holmes made his first appearance in A Study in Scarlet in 1887 and his character and that of Dr. Watson’s so intrigued Victorian readers that Doyle’s medical practice was eclipsed by the need to create ever more adventures for his intrepid and eccentric detective.

In 1893 Doyle decided to kill off Holmes by having him plunge off a cliff while grappling with his arch-nemesis, Dr. Moriarty, so that he could turn his attention to more serious writing and focus on his failing medical practice. However, the public clamored for their hero and Doyle was forced to resurrect Holmes who reappeared in 1901 in his most famous adventure, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Although the desperate writer may have been able to ignore his devoted reading audience and tried to quash his hero permanently, he was unable to ignore his mother, who wrote in a letter to Doyle, “You won’t, you can’t, you mustn’t!”

The Hound of the Baskervilles will entertain audiences with frenetic, side-splitting mayhem, barreling through the misty mires and deadly quick-sands of Dartmoor, and is a must-see not only for devoted Sherlock Holmes fans and devotees of mystery, but for all fun-loving theater goers.