'Arsenic and Old Lace'

• By ROBIN MILLER
• Arts writer
• Published: Nov 1, 2009

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People didn’t talk about things like this in 1939.

Well, that’s not entirely fair. As long as there are people, there will be gossip, and you can bet people talked about this kind of stuff.

Just not openly. Not in a play.

Still, Joseph Kesselring included a particular twist when writing Arsenic and Old Lace in 1939.

Need a clue? Well, this twist involves a family secret other than murder – the kind of secret that provides excellent fodder for gossip. 

“It’s still in the original script,” Stephanie Levert said. “But he also included a way to get around it, so you can either perform the play with or without it.”

Call it an escape clause of sorts, one the Baton Rouge Little Theater definitely will not take in its production of Arsenic and Old Lace, which opens Friday, Nov. 6, on its Main Stage. Yes, the story twist definitely will be there.

Levert plays Aunt Abby, one of the two eccentric Brewster sisters who has a penchant for homicide.

Yes, murder. It’s as simple as that.

Hilarious, too. Anyone who has seen Frank Capra’s 1944 film can attest to this. And most people familiar with the story have seen this movie, including the little theater’s cast.

“I think we’ve all seen the movie,” Travis Williams said.

He plays Mortimer in this production. Most people would know this as the Cary Grant part in the movie.

“But we’re not watching the movie to get ideas,” Williams said. “Most of us know the movie, and the movie is great. It’s a classic. But we’re making the story our own.”