The conceithere is that the super-sleuth and his step-slow sidekick/physician/biographerpreciselyportrayed by Rep newcomers Michael Santo and Richard Farrell, respectivelyarelocked inside the Holmes residence at 221B Baker Street and only a handful ofhours remain with which to solve a riddle that may underscore a fiendish plotthat threatens the stability of the British empire, oh dear!
This two-manshow does sputter at the start with a too-long amnesia sequence involvingHolmes assuming the identity of a low-rent music-hall entertainer namedMortimer Chipsis there a script doctor in the house?but once dropped and forgotten, it's thenthat Holmes and Watson gathers steam and rolls toward a combustibleclimax energized by the captivating chemistry between Santo and Farrell.
And thesongs, of which there are 15, all engagingly delivered: tuneful for the work athand, although not necessarily hummable upon leaving the theater. Perhaps thetoo-busy synthesized pre-recorded music accompaniment is conceptuallydiscordant with the “old English music hall and 19th-century parlor songs” thecomposer, Hillgartner, intends to evoke.
To theseears, an old-school upright piano backing these tunes would be as effectivelyevocative of this fin de siècleperiod as scenic designer Susannah M. Barnes' exquisitely dressed set ofHolmes' Baker Streetdigs was to these eyes.
But we'retalking show biz here, pure and simple, and that's Holmes and Watson, anelementary evening of entertainment, of a kind not found often enough. Caseclosed.
The Milwaukee Rep's Holmes and Watson: A Musical Mystery plays throughJan. 3, 2010, in the Stackner Cabaret.
