By Hollie Gibbs
Attending a performance at Liminis Theatre feels like watching a local band at a tiny venue just before they break. Some nights it’s the Cavern Club in Liverpool and you know these four local lads are going to be HUGE. Other nights it’s friends putting on a show in a garage — they rock the party, but throw those fish into a bigger pond and they’d be eaten alive. It’s always a fun night while you’re there, though, and the price is always right.
Thrill Me: the Leopold and Loeb Story Saturday evening was no different. As the full house ambled in, 1920s songs set the mood, including Helen Kane ironically foreshadowing the tempestuous relationship between killers Leopold and Loeb with “I Just Want to Be Loved by You.” Promptly at 8pm, the piano player dramatically swept the crowd into a darker noir genre as the play began. Unfortunately, this would be the last of the good music that night.
Created by Stephen Dolginoff, Thrill Me provides a spin on the well-known saga of Leopold and Loeb’s famous 1924 crime. Convergence-Continuum’s premier venture into musical theater, the play delves into the relationship between the uber-intelligent and cocky privileged pair who abducted and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks in Chicago.
Although Clarence Darrow saved the two from the death penalty (with a little help from Friedrich Nietzsche), they were sentenced to life plus 99 years. Thrill Me is the fictionalized tale of Nathan Leopold’s fifth attempt to seek parole (in 1958). During which he is asked the motive of his famous thrill kill crime. He proceeds to tell the story of his and Richard Loeb’s homoerotic criminal relationship with none too few double entendres.
Although not for lack of a competent musician, the music is altogether unremarkable. The lyrics are worse as they are forgettable with moments that border on painful. Additionally, Dolginoff failed to create anything compelling out of two of history’s most interesting characters. It is difficult to empathize with the star-crossed lover as he seems less swept away and more of an overly willing victim. The audience is told the cold-blooded killer Loeb possesses a charisma making him overwhelmingly popular, but they are never actually shown this.
They also hear of the characters’ superior intelligence, but without any significant evidence it quickly escalates into “just trust me” gossip rather than a story developing before their eyes. It is clear why this plays remains off Broadway.
The piece is truly Leopold’s story, and in this local rendition, Mike Majer (Leopold) also happens to possess the stronger voice in the two-man play, while Zac Hudak (Loeb)’s falls flat and struggles at times. The actors look the parts of an awkward love-struck ornithologist and rich, glib sociopath more than the real Leopold and Loeb ever did, though. They do the best they can with the weak script, and provide more layers to the mysterious motive along with an entertaining evening.
Overall, the 75-minute performance moves along nicely, as a true crime story is almost always compelling. The set encompasses most of the modest room and a small number of seats surround three sides of the stage. The minimal set was designed for a fluent performance without the distraction of moving backdrops, blackouts, or pauses for applause, which works for the most part save the evil deed itself.
Close to nine decades later, the murder is just as riveting today as when it was initially dubbed “the crime of the century,” although you’d never know it from this play. The misdeed is set in a far corner behind a lit box (simulating a car). The most climactic scene in any thriller, this one lacks any real drama at all with the two actors crouched down while a strobe light flashes. Looking to the opposite side of the stage afterwards a smoke machine’s emissions dissipate.
Thrill Me is worth seeing, however; if for no other reason than to get a different perspective of two of history’s most notorious murderers than previously depicted in Rope, Compulsion and Never the Sinner.
THRILL ME: THE LEOPOLD AND LOEB STORY runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through 6/8 at 8 pm @ Convergence-Continuum’s Liminis Theatre, 2438 Scranton Rd., Tremont. Tickets are $15 general admission; $12 for seniors; and $10 for students. convergence-continuum.org
Hollie Gibbs has a BS in journalism from Kent State University and studied photography at School of the Visual Arts in Manhattan. Her articles and photographs have appeared in numerous local and national publications. She can also be found playing guitar with various bands and building life-size monster props.
One Response to “REVIEW: No Frills, No Thrills at Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story”
Brad
Good review. This play has been over-rated by a lot of critics. I think your criticisms are spot-on. Something else that no one mentions is that the play is no more historical than Rope. The story bears little resemblance to the real people and the real events. And unfortunately the real people and the real events are much more interesting than the characters or the events in the play.