How did Agatha Christie’s ‘ The Mousetrap’ disappear?
It was queer. But there it was. “The Mousetrap” had vanished.
It was to have come to New York from London more than a year ago. It had never arrived. There had been no explanation, no excuse. It had just disappeared.
There was simply no trace of the famed Agatha Christie thriller — the West End’s longest-running stage success, which had famously played for 70 years without interruption. Its longawaited Broadway debut had been announced, first for 2023, then for 2024. It should have been on the boards right now.
There was an official website. There was a hashtag: #IDunnit. But no “Mousetrap.” No opening date announced. No cast. No theater.
It was all a bit thick.
“Murder mystery fans rejoice! ‘The Mousetrap’ by Agatha Christie,” is headed to Broadway,” theatergoers had read in Playbill in 2022.
“I feel after the longest out of town tryout in history, ‘ The Mousetrap’ is finally ready to transfer to Broadway,” the producer, Adam Spiegel, had remarked in Newsday. That was two years ago.
“If you can wait, and not be tired by waiting,” as Mr. Kipling says. But this was the limit.
The two-act mystery drama, with its surprise twist that three generations of theatergoers have sworn not to reveal, was simply gone — presto! — like the fairy godmother in the Christmas pantomime. And yet —
Plays don’t simply vanish into thin air, by Jove. A strange business.
Had “The Mousetrap” been done away with? And if so, by whom — and with what possible motive?
The plot thickens
“Waiting for feedback from The Mousetrap team,” was the hurried note from the press agent, Adrian BryanBrown, after inquiries were made. A good old stick. He’d get to the bottom of things.
But the response he got was as brief as it was cryptic. “Plans are still in formation and an announcement will be made at the appropriate time.”
There was no signature.
Someone, clearly, knew why “The Mousetrap” was not opening. Someone not willing to reveal his name. Someone who wouldn’t talk. Or couldn’t talk. Someone simply calling himself “spokesperson for ‘The Mousetrap’ on Broadway.”
What was he hiding?
From beyond the grave
One really didn’t know what to think. There was this producer. Spiegel, his name was. Hewas all right. One felt sure of that. He had produced the play in London. One could trust a man like that. But what of this other fellow, Kevin McCollum, who had partnered with him to bring it to New York? He had produced “Avenue Q.” No telling what a chap like that will do if he’s pushed.
And then there was the grandson. Christie’s grandson Matthew Pritchard said in the London Times that Agatha Christie and the show’s original producer, Peter Saunders, never wanted the show to go to Broadway.
“Those reasons are now long lost,” he had told the Times. But perhaps he knew more than he said.
One simply couldn’t imagine the woman, reaching out from beyond the grave, to prevent “The Mousetrap” from making a trans-Atlantic crossing. Such things don’t happen in the 21st century. Probably never did.
Yet here it was, well into 2024, and “The Mousetrap” was nowhere to be found. A mystery. A mystery about a mystery.
One might almost be inclined to call in Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple. Were one not certain that they had solved their last cases 50 years before. Deuced awkward.