Dial M for Murder: Bay Street Production Reimagines Classic Thriller

Following the Mainstage 2023 season opener, Double Helix, Bay Street Theater is hard at work on their next production, Dial M for Murder, a classic edge-of-your-seat thriller that has evolved considerably since its 1952 debut.

Written by British playwright Frederick Knott, Dial M received regional acclaim for its debut on BBC Television and subsequent runs on the West End of London and on Broadway. It reached true icon status when Knott adapted the screenplay for director Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 masterpiece film of the same name.

Now, nearly 70 years later, playwright/screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher has etched his name into the history of Dial M with a new adaptation that updates the play for a modern audience, adds a few fresh surprises and injects a touch of wit into the writing. Walter Bobbie, Tony-winning director of the 1996 Chicago revival, will direct the Bay Street production.

“This one’s delicious, I think … I know Jeffrey Hatcher, I’ve worked with him before, and he seems to have been able to leave the play in the period of the ’50s and refresh it at the same time,” Bobbie says. “The original play is very good and quite serious, but I think Jeffrey found a way to put some real wit into it. And the minute I read it, I said to Scott (Schwartz, Bay Street artistic director), ‘Yes, I’d love to do this.’”

In this suspenseful thriller, the character of Tony suspects that his wife Margot, an upper-class socialite, is having an affair, so he schemes to have her killed for her betrayal. This “stylish game of cat and mouse” is filled with tension, twists and turns that will keep the audience guessing until the ultimate conclusion.

Unfortunately for fans of the original play and movie, there are diminishing returns on the suspense to be found in repeat viewings, as is the case for everything in the mystery thriller genre. This is where Hatcher’s new script comes in with a few unexpected surprises, including impactful changes to the characters and their relationships.

Without getting into spoiler territory, Bobbie shares that the nature of Margot’s alleged affair in this version “brings a lot more tension” and that the person she’s been spending time with is a mystery author “who’s so familiar with plots and stories that it brings a kind of real wit to the unfolding of our particular narrative.” He adds, “I think Jeffrey Hatcher had a good deal of fun with that.”

In addition to the character reworks, Bobbie praises the way Hatcher took the classic dialogue of Dial M and refreshed it, describing the update as the “real gift” of the adaptation. “And the wonderful thing is that the estate was delighted with what he did with the play,” Bobbie notes. “There was no resistance to any of these ideas. I think it’s crisp, and there’s a major nod to the way Hitchcock managed to turn this play into a classic.”

It’s important to remember, however, that Hatcher’s take on Dial M for Murder is not a brand-new play. It will still follow the basic story beats of the original, so those who’ve seen it will know some of the surprises before they’re revealed.

“When you’re doing a mystery — a mystery that everyone knows — you can’t depend on the suspense or people not knowing what the story is,” he says. “You’re really engaged with the actors and the writing in a production like this because everybody knows how the plot turns out. I think that’s the challenge: To keep the people engaged in something they already know and in the story that they sense is going to work out in a way that they know from the beginning. So what you have to create is an entertaining way of telling them a story that they know, or they thought they knew, and surprise them nonetheless.”

The Bay Street cast includes Mamie Gummer (DMZ and Emily Owens, M.D.), Erich Bergen (Madam Secretary and Bull), Rosa Gilmore (The Expanse), Max Gordon Moore (Indecent) and Reg Rogers (Holiday), a decision which Bobbie says determined much of his directorial vision right out of the gate.

“Once you cast your actors, you’ve made 90% of your decisions. … Once you cast an actor, you’ve made a decision about the role, and then you just want them to be able to finish the journey,” he says. “All of these actors bring so much to the table. Direction is just encouraging them to be more of who they already are and hopefully to get them on stage in ways that psychologically make sense and spots on the stage where they can help sustain the narrative or clarify the narrative.”

Having directed grand Broadway shows and smaller shows at regional theaters, Bobbie’s approach remains the same.

“I think your work is always the same. (Broadway) is just more money involved and more pressure, but I don’t approach the material differently. I do a play because I love it, not because of where it’s being performed,” he says, adding that he has been attending Bay Street shows since the theater opened and is excited to now be directing Dial M for Murder there. “I just love the play, and I’m having a very good time. I think the actors are, too. You know, it is called ‘play!’ I must say that the collaboration and spontaneity in the room is very exciting to me and actually quite moving.”

Bobbie’s biggest goal for Dial M, as it is for all his productions, is to guarantee that everything from the set and costumes to the actors’ emotions feels authentic. “I’m not a stylist. If I have a style of directing, it’s just trying to lead the actors to an authentic interpretation, so they can feel truthful in the material, no matter how heightened the emotions are,” he says. “Whether people laugh or cry or whatever, they feel like they’ve been authentically engaged in the characters and their behavior. There may be some laughs in this, but we’re not playing it for laughs. We never do.”

For the set, Tony-nominated Scenic Designer Anna Louizos has created a room in a London townhouse that pre-dates the 1950s but is filled with high-end modernist furniture, now considered mid-century antiques, sourced from WYETH in Sagaponack. Leading the costume department is Jeff Mahshie, a Tony-nominated costume designer with fashion industry experience.

He’s creating a “wonderful, beautiful and expensive world” filled with the couture of London’s 1950s high society, Bobbie explains. Rounding out the talented crew is Tony-winning lighting designer Donald Holder, Tony-nominated sound designer Dan Moses Schreier, Broadway fight director Thomas Schall, dialect coach Deborah Hecht, props designer Nicole Rozanski, assistant director Stefanie Anarumo and production stage manager Melissa Sparks.

Previews for Dial M for Murder begin on Tuesday, June 27, and opening night is on Saturday, July 1 at the unusually early time of 6:30 p.m. due to that night’s Fourth of July fireworks show in Sag Harbor. The show runs through Sunday, July 23. To purchase tickets, call 631-725-9500 or visit baystreet.org.