Widely acknowledged to be the most prestigious awards in the genre, The 2012 Edgar Allan Poe Awards honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2011. A full list of the nominees and winners is available on the Mystery Writers of America website.

Set in December 1936, The Game's Afoot begins as Broadway star William Gillette, admired the world over for his leading role in the play Sherlock Holmes, has invited his fellow cast-members to his Connecticut castle for a weekend of revelry. But when one of the guests is stabbed to death, the festivities in this isolated house of tricks and mirrors quickly turn dangerous. Then it’s up to Gillette himself, as he assumes the persona of his beloved Holmes, to track down the killer before the next victim appears. The danger and hilarity are non-stop in this glittering whodunit set during the Christmas holidays.

Ken Ludwig's The Game's Afoot is published and licensed by Samuel French, Inc.

The play made box office history during its word premiere at the Cleveland Play House last November. According to the Cleveland Plane Dealer, “Ludwig's holiday whodunit about American actor William Gillette, who made a fortune playing Sherlock Holmes, became the top-selling show in Play House history."

Pictured: William Gillette and his cast of "Sherlock Holmes" discover a clue in the Cleveland Play House production of Ken Ludwig's "The Game's Afoot (or Holmes for the Holidays)," directed by Aaron Posner, on stage in the Allen Theatre at PlayhouseSquare, November 25 - December 24, 2011. Pictured from left: Patricia Kilgarriff, Lise Bruneau, Eric Hissom, Donald Sage Mackay, Rob McClure, Mattie Hawkinson. Photo credit: Roger Mastroianni.

The 1993 Olivier Award-winning musical was revived at the alfresco venue last summer with Sean Palmer and Clare Foster starring as unlikely lovers Bobby Child, a well-to-do 1930s banker with theatrical ambitions sent to Nevada on unpleasant business, and local tomboy Polly Baker.

Timothy Sheader’s critically acclaimed hit transferred into the West End later in the year for a six month run allowing more theatregoers to enjoy George and Ira Gershwin’s memorable score, which includes iconic show tunes I Got Rhythm and Someone To Watch Over Me, Ken Ludwig’s witty book, Stephen Mear’s acclaimed choreography and Peter McKintosh’s colourful design.

Nominated in three categories in tonight’s ceremony, the Regent’s Park Open Air’s classic production was described by Official London Theatre as “fabulous escapism of the highest order” and received five stars from the Evening Standard which fittingly concluded its review “who could ask for anything more?”.

The award hattrick follows the venue’s Olivier Award success in the same category with last year’s Into The Woods and 2010’s Hello, Dolly!.

First published: 15 Apr 2012 on The Olivier Awards Website

It is December 1936 and Broadway star William Gillette, admired the world over for his leading role in the play Sherlock Holmes, has invited his fellow cast-members to his Connecticut castle for a weekend of revelry. But when one of the guests is stabbed to death, the festivities in this isolated house of tricks and mirrors quickly turn dangerous. Then it’s up to Gillette himself, as he assumes the persona of his beloved Holmes, to track down the killer before the next victim appears. The danger and hilarity are non-stop in this glittering whodunit set during the Christmas holidays.

Reviews

“The Game’s Afoot is Murderously Funny!”
-Broadway World Cleveland

“The play evolves like a mystery thriller, as one tantalizing clue leads to another….In 1936, at the height of the Great Depression, people flocked to the theater for a few hours of escapism from hard times. Today, in our current recession, here is an antidote and the ideal holiday present - the gift of laughter.”
-Cleveland Jewish news

“Ludwig demonstrates the theatrical equivalent of perfect pitch, both in this new work and in his past efforts.”
-Cleveland Scene

“From the intriguing opening mini play within a play to the surprise last scene a split second before final curtain, The Game’s Afoot gives you everything you love about great live theatre. Billed as a comedy thriller you will find yourself swept along for a wild and funny ride.”
-Cleveland Examiner

“a hilarious, quirky and thrilling alternative to your standard holiday entertainment. The Game’s Afoot is the perfect gift for the holidays..a fantastically fun night out at the theatre. It’s something we can be proud of as a city”
-Clue into Cleveland.com

“The Game’s Afoot will be performed by professional and community theaters across the country. Certainly this production is Broadway quality.”
-Talkin Broadway.com

Full Reviews

Video

The 2012 Edgar Allan Poe Awards honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2011 and will be presented to the winners at the 66th Gala Banquet, April 26, 2012 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

The Game’s Afoot, a comedy-thriller, made box office history during its word premiere at the Cleveland Play House last November.

According to the Cleveland Plane Dealer, “Ludwig's holiday whodunit about American actor William Gillette, who made a fortune playing Sherlock Holmes, became the top-selling show in Play House history."

Set in December 1936, The Game's Afoot begins as Broadway star William Gillette, admired the world over for his leading role in the play Sherlock Holmes, has invited his fellow cast-members to his Connecticut castle for a weekend of revelry. But when one of the guests is stabbed to death, the festivities in this isolated house of tricks and mirrors quickly turn dangerous. Then it’s up to Gillette himself, as he assumes the persona of his beloved Holmes, to track down the killer before the next victim appears. The danger and hilarity are non-stop in this glittering whodunit set during the Christmas holidays.

Pictured: William Gillette and his cast of "Sherlock Holmes" discover a clue in the Cleveland Play House production of Ken Ludwig's "The Game's Afoot (or Holmes for the Holidays)," directed by Aaron Posner, on stage in the Allen Theatre at PlayhouseSquare, November 25 - December 24, 2011. Pictured from left: Patricia Kilgarriff, Lise Bruneau, Eric Hissom, Donald Sage Mackay, Rob McClure, Mattie Hawkinson. Photo credit: Roger Mastroianni.

The full list of nominees for the 2012 Olivier Awards was announced at noon on 15 March with an event at the May Fair Hotel presented by 2011 Olivier Awards Best Actress winner Nancy Carroll and Best Actor Roger Allam.

According to the Olivier Awards' website, "The Olivier Awards is the biggest and most spectacular night in the British theatre calendar. Far more than an awards ceremony – although anyone who’s anyone in theatre wants to get their hands on an Olivier – the night is sure to be spectacular and unforgettable."

Best Musical Revival: Crazy For You, which won the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Musical, was revived at the Regent’s Park Open Air theatre this summer starring Sean Palmer and Clare Foster, before transferring into the West End following a critically acclaimed run at the alfresco venue.

Best Theatre Choreography: A two-time Olivier Award-winner, Stephen Mear’s critically acclaimed choreography for Timothy Sheader’s production of Crazy For You encapsulated the fun and colour of Ken Ludwig’s feel-good musical, using imaginative props and spectacular full company numbers.

Best Costume Design: Peter McKintosh's lavish costumes for Crazy For You, took audiences back to the heyday of the 1930s.

The winners of the 2012 Olivier Awards will be announced in a ceremony at the Royal Opera House on Sunday 15 April 2012 hosted by Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton.

Watch the 2012 Olivier Award Nominees announcement:

Ken Ludwig’s farce, “Lend Me a Tenor, “ has just been revived at the White Plains Performing Arts Center—a very laudable move. Hitherto limited to musicals, this marks a branching out into straight plays to savory effect.

Under Jeremy Quinn’s snappy direction, the farce was played at the proper breakneck tempo, in a fine set by Jaye Beetem, snazzy costumes by Samantha Irons, and felicitous lighting by Andrew Gmoser. Some lesser performances were nicely compensated for by several excellent ones.

The plot concerns a performance of Verdi’s “Otello” by the fictitious Cleveland Grand Opera Company in 1934. A renowned Italian tenor, Tito Merelli, known as Il Stupendo, is flying in for the lead, but is not there for the dress rehearsal, and when he does come, his shrewish wife Maria leaves him with a phony farewell note. Distraught enough for an overdose of pills, he is knocked out completely and, to general alarm, given up for dead.

So Otello will be sung by Max, the young and eager assistant to the company’s fearsome manager, Saunders, a mere bathroom singer but familiar with the role, which he fearfully but also brazenly assumes. He manages to fool the Clevelanders into letting him get away with it.

But Tito finally wakes up, and pretty soon there are two Otellos in the identical comic makeup running wild and eliciting hilarious confusion. There is also a comic subplot involving Max and his silly girlfriend Maggie, daughter of the aforementioned Saunders, who rants as well as he dithers, and fearsomely disapproves of their involvement.

Then there is the swooning of various women—the snooty soprano Diana, the imperious Julia, chairman of the opera board, and the heroworshiping Maggie—all of whom want a piece of the great tenor, but understandably can’t tell the difference between two identical blackamoors whom they bafflingly pursue. This leaves everyone bewildered, including the jaunty Bellhop (no name), an opera buff whose adulation and cheekiness add to the chaos, which climaxes when jealous Maria returns and heightens the hysteria.

To Ludwig’s dazzlingly woven web of misapprehensions and mishaps, several cast members rise with full authority. Of the two Actors’ Equity members in the cast, Jorge Acosta manages Tito well enough, though Maria Silverman is excessively shrill as Maria. Non-Equity Joel Pellini is a terrific Max, whether grandly arrogant or sheepishly befuddled, Maggie Thompson is an aptly grandiose Julia, and Jeff Raab a puckishly impudent Bellhop.

Others are less adept. Thus Sheira Feuerstein’s mushmouthed and oddly listing Maggie, Logan Rose Nelms’s overly stilted Diana, and John Anthony Lopez’s insufficiently formidable Saunders. But so glorious is Ludwig’s comic writing that such drawbacks can be readily overlooked. The production fully deserves the tenner on which the show’s title is a pun; perhaps even two tenners, one for each Otello creating such heavenly havoc.

John Simon has written for over 50 years on theatre, film, literature, music and fine arts for the Hudson Review, New Leader, New Criterion, National Review,New York Magazine, Opera News, Weekly Standard, Broadway.com and Bloomberg News. Mr. Simon holds a PhD from Harvard University in Comparative Literature and has taught at MIT, Harvard University, Bard College and Marymount Manhattan College.