Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express

by Ken Ludwig

Agatha Christie's classic mystery, Murder on the Orient Express, adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig.
"Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a klller in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer-- in case he or she decides to strike again."

Genres: Plays, Mystery, Theatre

91 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

KEN LUDWIG is an internationally-acclaimed playwright whose work has been performed in more than 30 countries in over 20 languages. He has had 6 shows on Broadway and 6 in the West End. He has won two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Helen Hayes Awards, the Edgar Award, the SETC Distinguished Career Award, the Edwin Forrest Award for Services to the Theatre and he is a McCarter/Sallie B. Goodman Fellow. His plays have been commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Bristol Old Vic. His first play on Broadway, Lend Me A Tenor, won three Tony Awards and the New York Times called it "one of the two great farces by a living writer." His other best-known Broadway and West End shows include Crazy For You (5 years on Broadway, Tony Award Winner for Best Musical), Moon Over Buffalo, Leading Ladies, Twentieth Century, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Game’s Afoot, The Fox on the Fairway, Midsummer/Jersey, The Three Musketeers, Treasure Island and The Beaux’ Stratagem. His plays have starred Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Lynn Redgrave, Mickey Rooney, Hal Holbrook, Dixie Carter, Tony Shalhoub, Anne Heche, Joan Collins, and Kristin Bell. His book, How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare, was published in June 2013 by Random House, and his work has been published by the Yale Review. He has degrees from Harvard, where he studied music with Leonard Bernstein, Haverford College and Cambridge University. For more information, please visit www.kenludwig.com

Reviews

[Autumn Slaght · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the play that I'm in in October! I can't say too much about it...you'll have to come see it or go see it for yourselves. ;) What I can tell you is that it is an experience you won't want to miss! The humor, the acting, the dramatic monologues. This is one of the best plays I've been in, (or seen, I guess that counts too) and I love it! Ken Ludwig did such a great job adapting it for the stage!
What I also can say is that I work with a great cast of people. Just thought I'd throw that in there. :D

[Rachel Pollock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play is a fun dramatization of the Agatha Christie mystery with some excellent opportunities for costume and set design.

[Anne Marie Sweeney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doing research.

[Joel Robertson · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a script alone it is not superior or even as good as the book. The mystery feels rushed and I dont think you could solve it without prior knowledge of the story.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie's when I read it, even though it is dated. I have enjoyed other adaptations of the story. But I find Ludwig's interpretation lacking. It's wordy and cumbersome. The characters are flat and come across as stereotypes more than actual people. The action shifts from room to room quickly within scenes and demands quite a bit of fine-tuned lighting. This is not a show to take on without reading it and knowing you have a strong talent pool to pull of the accents!

[Bacontrarian(Michael) · Rating 2 out of 5]

i saw a local production of this recently and it was pretty fun. i liked the set design and the majority of the cast did a really good job(with the glaring exception being the guy who played poirot, who talked at like 1 wpm and was clearly trying to emulate kenneth branagh's similarly dogshit performance for some reason). the script itself on the other hand was really really bad. the jokes sucked and even if they didn't suck the tone was all over the place as a result of the comedy. 99% of the play is silly and comedic like knives out or see how they run but then we have to cut back and forth between that and the intense moral dilemma that we know the story deals with and the final sequence of the play just feels extremely out of place by the time we get to it.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1st time I have read a murder mystery it was interesting although some of the language was hard to understand Since it kind of went between English and French. I read this book to help understand the movie I had rendered a while back of the oriental express and I would say it was pretty close Do the movie for more I remember.

[Clare B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was certainly interesting. Having talked with some family who have read the original book, it was interesting to compare notes and see how the playwright mixed and matched characters into a cohesive yet still true story that Agatha Christie was telling. Very impressive. I am excited to help produce this show at my university, but it does provide some costume challenges! :)

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

For such rich material and a classic character, this play feels rushed and shallow. It's not funny and it feels like such a wasted opportunity. But maybe it could never be a good play. It's too difficult.

[Stephanie Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this adaptation of a great classic (I love the original book too, it’s in my Top 5 of A.Christie’s works). So many opportunities for creative set, props, and costumes… and a great piece to work with actors or students on structure and characterizations.

[Dennis Vadnais · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good play.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoy the classic story still.
Loved the recent movie even more…Would like to see how the heck we make all the Train scenes happen On Stage?!?!!

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun adaptation with a good mix of drama and comedy. One thing to note is that the text contains music that is not included in the summary of music at the beginning.

[Cristian LaBar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this so many times for the upcoming play that I’m in, I figured I might as well add it to my Goodreads list. It has some decent twists and turns.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Agatha Christie. Took me a minute to get into it but now I'm a fan! Looking to read another.

[Cheryl Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful, faced-paced adaptation of this play.

[mengwe · Rating 5 out of 5]

dan did such a great job on this!!!

[Lola Prewitt]

Yay for Agatha Christie! Very suspenseful!

[Ally Adams Barton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Agatha and I liked the story but I didn’t love that it was in play format

[Flynn Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oui oui!! 🚂🚂

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ken Ludwig has done a good job adapting Agatha Christie's famous book for the stage. I have never seen it produced - but just reading it is fun.

[Sarah Grosse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may be a murder mystery, but it’s also really funny and kind of a trip…🤣 I want to read the original novel of course, but I can tell after giving this a read that it’s going to be a great time!!

[Trinity · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great adaptation!