When Something’s Afoot opened on Broadway in 1976, critic Walter Kerr pronounced the musical mystery fundamentally flawed. Because music relaxes, he said, it’s incompatible with suspense.
Obviously Kerr wasn’t a fan of Hitchcock. But his question remains: Can a suspense murder mystery sustain itself as a musical?
We’ll see.
Does Something’s Afoot give us memorable music? No.
Does it hold great suspense? No.
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