I was excited on Sunday March 31, 1996, as I boarded an Amtrak train to take me to New York City for I had a ticket to see the matinee performance of a mystery play entitled Getting Away With Murder that had just opened a couple weeks earlier at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway.

I had been hearing about the play for some time, and well, you know me. I love mysteries, having read practically the entire works of Agatha Christie as well as quite a few other Golden Age detective story writers.

More than that, this promised to be in the mold of such classic plays as Christie’s own Witness For the Prosecution and Anthony Shaffer’s Sleuth; it was advertised as a comedy thriller. Hence, my excitement.

The cast list was nothing to sneeze at either. John Rubenstein, Terrence Mann, and Christine Ebersole headlined above the title, so all in all I expected to be in for a couple of hours of delicious, murderous mayhem.

And I wasn’t disappointed. 

Starting with a detailed, somewhat gothic set (a doctor’s office, all other offices having been emptied in a building that was about to be renovated) with a prominent digital clock ticking away the minutes and seconds in real time as the action progressed. The action being part comedy, part melodrama, all leading up to one of the most breathtaking Act I curtains I’ve ever seen in live theater.

I mean, how could they possibly continue after that?!?!?!

But continue they did, and Act II was just as much fun as the first act, and it led to a very satisfying denouement.

In short, I loved it.

I felt sure that the play ought to have a very long, successful run and become a classic.

Alas, that was not to be.

I don’t know if I realized it at the time (I had bought my ticket well in advance), but I saw the final performance of Getting Away With Murder, because it closed after 29 previews and 17 performances.

I guess New York playgoers were just not interested in seeing a non-musical play by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth.

It had previously had a successful run at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California.

Even now, a couple years after Sondheim’s passing, it never gets mentioned as part of his oeuvre. So today, on what would have been Sondheim’s 94th birthday, I thought I’d give it a shout out. 

I even dug out the T-shirt, which has been sitting in my closets since 1996.