Syracuse Stage rings up mystery and mayhem with ‘Dial M for Murder’ (Review)

There are rules for that most neglected of stage genres, the murder mystery. The play unfolds in one room. There are five or six sharply drawn characters. The onstage action is melodramatic, chill-inducing, but never really grim. Finally, the dialogue is witty enough to keep the mechanics of the genre from showing too much.
Although Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” movies have revived the genre on the big screen, there haven’t been many popular new stage mysteries. Recently, however, the murder mystery has been in revival through adaptations of classics. Some have been drawn from novels like Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” featured last year at Syracuse Stage. Others are reshaped from earlier successful plays, like Frederick Knott’s “Dial M for Murder,” now providing a satisfying evening of theater as the Syracuse Stage season opener.