Stage West pulls off a coup with 'The 39 Steps'

The 39 Steps, the 1935 spy thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is an early example of the common plot structure that was to become a trademark of this master of suspense -- an innocent man fleeing the authorities and the villains while lives, and maybe even the fate of nations, hang in the balance.

The film has a few comic moments but, on the whole, it is a suspenseful drama. The stage version by Patrick Barlow, however, is an out-and-out comedy.

The show uses much of the same dialogue as the film, but it plays as a manic farce where only four actors, supported by minimal props and sets, dash about madly to re-create the entire movie. Hitchcock fans are also likely to get a kick out of a number of groan-inducing puns related to the famed director's other, better-known films.

The stage version of Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps is a rare example of a show that enjoyed a long run in London, where it was developed in 2006, and on Broadway, where it continues a run that began in 2008. The show also has toured nationally, including a stop in Dallas this year.

Stage West is the first theater in the area to gain permission to do a production of this hilarious show; that is quite a coup, because the show promises to be a favorite with community theaters because of its broad, established appeal and small cast.

"Several people who had seen it in London or New York came back and said, 'This is a perfect Stage West show. You have to do this,'" says Jim Covault, the theater's artistic director, who is directing this production. "And we pursued it even before there was a copy available to read, which we don't ordinarily do."

Screen to stage

Broadway and Hollywood have always gotten along extremely well.

The productions that wow audiences on the Great White Way often find their way to the silver screen -- from The Sound of Music to Grease to Mamma Mia!

So usually a property that proves its value as a stage work is deemed a safe bet for feature-film treatment.

But The 39 Steps is one of a surprising number of stage successes based on movies. This work is a distinctive example in that it is a dramatic film that has been translated into a stage comedy, not a musical. But there is no lack of precedent for basing a stage work on a screenplay rather than the other way around.

Here, in no particular order, are just a few of the Broadway shows that, like The 39 Steps, saw their stories told on the screen before being played out (or sung out) on the boards.

Singin' in the Rain -- This old-fashioned musical looks like a classic example of a stage show that worked just as well on the silver screen. But, in reality, this film from 1952 is an original screenplay built entirely around the title song -- a catchy number that was one of many in a plotless Broadway show that was later filmed as The Hollywood Revue of 1929. The stage version of the musical did not find its way to Broadway until 1985, where it ran less than a year. But it has enjoyed a second life in community theater productions.

The Little Shop of Horrors -- . This dark comedy about a carnivorous plant and its love-struck owner is based on the 1960 movie of the same name by horror master Roger Corman, with a cast that included a very young Jack Nicholson. The musical, which debuted off-Broadway in 1982 and ran there for years, featured music by Alan Menken -- a composer who would later create the Academy Award-winning scores for several of Disney's most popular musicals, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Pocahontas. The show also enjoyed a relatively short Broadway run in 2003-04.

Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King -- Speaking of those Disney films, when it comes to stretching a film's popularity all the way to the musical stage, the Mouse House is unsurpassed. These works have proved to be superb fodder for dazzling Broadway shows, where the 'toons are often converted into human form with dazzling costumes, but little else needs to be changed. Among Disney's most successful screen-to-stage transfers have been Menken's Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, the latter of which opened its current Broadway run in October 1997.

12 Angry Men -- This taut courtroom (or, more exactly, jury room) drama by Reginald Rose is one of the very rare examples of a work that was written for the small screen that made the transition to the stage. And it is further a rarity in that it was not turned into a musical, as is the norm for these screen-to-stage adaptations. It began its life as an original teleplay, airing as an episode of the dramatic anthology series Studio One in 1954. It was adapted for the stage soon after, but became much more widely know from the 1957 feature film version starring Henry Fonda. It earned Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It finally appeared on Broadway in 2004 and won a Tony Award for best revival of a play in 2005.

The Producers -- Mel Brooks not only produced the musical version of his wacky 1968 comedy about a double-dealing theatrical producer, his reluctant accomplice and the worst musical ever conceived, Springtime for Hitler, he also wrote the music and lyrics and co-wrote the book -- an extremely rare example of filmmaker directly involved with the musical adaptation of a film. The wildly popular show won a slew of Tony Awards (including best musical and best score) during its six-year Broadway run, which began in 2001. In 2005, a Brooks-directed film version of the musical was released.

Nine -- Federico Fellini's self-absorbed film fantasy, 8 1/2, was screened mostly in art houses in 1963. But this musical treatment of that work has enjoyed two visits to Broadway, in 1982 and 2003. Just last year, it was released as a motion picture starring Daniel Day-Lewis. But despite the musical's strong track record on Broadway and elsewhere, the much-anticipated 2009 film version was a major flop.

The Full Monty -- A film about unemployed blue-collar workers in England who bare it all to make ends meet hardly seems a likely choice for a film that could make it on the stage. But the musical based on the 1997 film comedy, which shuffles off the action from Sheffield, England, to Buffalo, N.Y., followed its two-year run on Broadway (2000-02) by becoming surprisingly popular with community theaters. It just closed at WaterTower Theatre in Addison, and Theater Arlington will drop the trousers on its production beginning Sept. 17.

Spamalot -- Speaking of Monty's, Eric Idle, who wrote the book, lyrics and music for the stage version of Spamalot, refers to it as being "lovingly ripped off from" the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This smash hit, which ran on Broadway from 2004 to 2009, took the best musical Tony in 2005 and is enjoying a world tour. It has also attracted some high-profile talent. Over the years, its cast has included such well-known entertainers as Tim Curry, David Hyde Pierce, Hank Azaria and, most recently, Clay Aiken.

Hairspray -- John Waters is considered to be a quirky filmmaker whose movies are not to everyone's taste. But this sweet musical about a chubby teenage girl who uses a 1960s Baltimore TV dance show to make a stand for civil rights, based on Waters' 1988 comedy, had a Broadway run of more than six years (2002-09) and has become a mainstream theatrical hit. Nikki Blonsky, John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken starred in the 2007 movie based on the musical.

Billy Elliot: The Musical -- One of the current Broadway shows with celluloid roots, this musical based on a film about a boy growing up in a bleak, British coal mining town who longs to be a dancer features music by Elton John. It opened in 2008 and took the Tony award for best musical last year.