“The 39 Steps” is like a theatrical version of a one-man band, but instead of music, it’s a play. With a quick change of hat, coat, wig or accent – often right before the audience’s eyes – four actors impressively portray more than 100 characters while telling a compelling story on a sparse stage.
This comedic spy thriller, which is based on an Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name and takes audiences on a wild adventure across 1930s Great Britain, runs through Nov. 22 at the intimate, 400-seat Laguna Playhouse.
The story follows Richard Hannay (played by Jon Root), an ordinary man who gets swept into a plot of international espionage. Encountering danger along the way, he must outwit deception and mistaken identity in this fast-paced romp filled with physical comedy and an ever-changing cast of characters.
“I can truly say I’ve never done a show where, in two hours, I never stop running, changing my costumes, changing my facial hair, going in the audience, coming out of the audience, going up a ladder, down a ladder. It’s just constant movement,” said Jennifer Cody, who plays Clown No. 2, which includes dozens of different roles including both male and female characters. “And … changing dialects constantly is also hard. We go from British to Cockney to Scottish. It just goes back and forth. So that’s also quite a challenge. It’s the hardest one I’ve ever done.”
That’s saying a lot for an actress who has appeared in numerous Broadway musical productions from “Shrek” to “Urinetown,” “Seussical,” Beauty and the Beasty,” “Grease” and “Cats” as well as film, TV and voice work including “Younger,” “New Amsterdam,” “Blue Bloods” and “American Dad,” plus her Annie Award-winning performance as Charlotte La Bouff in Disney’s animated movie, “The Princess and the Frog.”
Cody said she was drawn to “The 39 Steps” play because “it’s terrifying … I’ve been in the business quite a while now, and I find things that are really scary ultimately are the most fulfilling …. It is terrifying every night and I guess that I find that thrilling in a weird way. Like jumping out of an airplane.”
Notably, Cody is married to the play’s director, Hunter Foster, who also adapted, co-wrote and originally directed the play, “Clue: On Stage,” which was based on the 1985 film and has become one of the most produced plays in the country.
Foster said he was compelled to direct “The 39 Steps” because of the ingenuity involved using simple props including a few trunks, some ladders, doors that can be rolled around and window frames that the actors frequently hold and step through to make their escape.
“It’s all about using your childlike imagination to create scenes …. This whole play is like when you put on a play when you’re a kid … (or you) pretend in the basement and you use like a cardboard box …. Or in the backyard, you just create things out of nothing,” he said.
Interestingly, the original Hitchcock movie isn’t a comedy, but the play was adapted as one. “I think people want … stuff that they can laugh at these days,” Foster noted.
For Ashley Margaret Morton, who plays “The Woman,” which includes three female characters, this is her third time performing in a production of “The 39 Steps.”
“I saw this play for the first time when I was studying abroad in London and it completely changed my life,” she said. “I saw four actors doing what seemed to be the impossible, creating an entire world with limited scenery, props and people, and I thought ‘Oh my God, I want to do that.’
“I think the thing I love most about this play is that, while it marries such impeccable comedy with film noir tropes, it also has an immense amount of heart. The playwright who adapted this story for the stage, Patrick Barlow, says in his foreword, ‘There is much opportunity for comedy and satire here. But it is also a love story …. There’s a reason to live and a reason to love …. I’d respectfully ask you to remember the story, too. It’s there behind the mayhem.’ ”
Actors Ashley Margaret Morton and Jon Root share a moment in a Scottish Highlands scene in Laguna Playhouse’s production of “The 39 Steps.” Photo courtesy of Laguna Playhouse/Jason Niedle 
Jon Root (left) and Ashley Margaret Morton in Laguna Playhouse’s production of “The 39 Steps,” running through Nov. 22. Photo courtesy of Laguna Playhouse/Jason Niedle 
Jon Root (left) and Ashley Margaret Morton in Laguna Playhouse’s production of “The 39 Steps,” running through Nov. 22. Photo courtesy of Laguna Playhouse/Jason Niedle 
Ashley Morton and Jon Root in Laguna Playhouse’s production of “The 39 Steps.” Photo courtesy of Laguna Playhouse/Jason Niedle
Transportive Theater
As most plays do, this production whisks audiences to another time and place for two hours. It’s set in 1935 in London, Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands, during an uncertain time as Germany was rising to power. Back then, no one realized that war was imminent. Foster noted that the modern audience has the gift of hindsight, knowing that World War II is looming on the horizon, while the play’s characters are still in the dark. “I find that to be interesting,” he said.
While the suspenseful story takes place during a serious time, the play is filled with whimsical characters that add levity. For example, Jeremy Webb, who plays Clown No. 1, portrays wildly different characters ranging from a policeman to an English milk deliveryman, a Scottish rancher (speaking with a thick brogue), a secret operative and the wife of an innkeeper, a humorous role that elicits plenty of laughs.
Webb and Cody each portray 30 to 40 characters in this farce that’s full of surprises. While each role helps keep the audience engaged, hilarity ensues when one of Cody’s characters must play a certain musical instrument.
“Some of the funny comes out of failure,” Cody said. “A perfect example is that I do a scene where I play bagpipes. Now, I’ve never played bagpipes. I’ve never held bagpipes. And so they handed me bagpipes and the comedy just came out of that …. I can’t get them on me. I can’t figure out where my fingers go …. That failure is a hilarious moment.”
But one of Cody’s favorite characters to play is Mr. McQuarrie, a doddering older gentleman who must introduce a candidate who’s up for election at a local event that main character Hannay stumbles into.
From left, Jon Root, Jeremy Webb and Jennifer Cody perform a scene on a train in Laguna Playhouse’s production of spy thriller “The 39 Steps,” a Hitchcock-inspired comedy featuring four actors portraying more than 100 characters. Photo courtesy of Laguna Playhouse/Jason Niedle 
Actors Jeremy Webb (standing) and Jennifer Cody perform a comedic scene in Laguna Playhouse’s production of “The 39 Steps,” running through Nov. 22. Photo courtesy of Laguna Playhouse/Jason Niedle 
Cast members bring to life a scene on a train in Laguna Playhouse’s production of “The 39 Steps,” which runs through Nov. 22. Photo courtesy of Laguna Playhouse/Jason Niedle
“I think he’s probably my favorite, only because I grew up loving ‘The Carol Burnett Show’ and Tim Conway (from that show) has always been someone who(m) I emulate,” Cody said. “I just think his comedy is brilliant and he’s a great physical comedian. And so I kind of used him as the template for this character …. He does a speech in which you don’t understand a single word he says, and then he tends to fall asleep a lot. There’s a lot of physical humor in that. I enjoy the physical part of the show.”
Cody noted that the way she talks or moves is a large part of bringing her characters to life as they often only don a piece of costume like a kilt or hat.
“Like for my old man, I crouch down and I can barely walk. I shuffle,” she said. “And then, when I play this housekeeper, I’m a little flitty and I prance a little bit and I sing, and so it’s the physical transformation I think of our bodies that actually make the characters, as opposed to the stuff that we’re putting on. That definitely helps us, but I think mostly it’s got to be a physical, internal thing that we do, so the audience can click in immediately to the archetype or the stereotype that we’re playing.”
Morton, however, plays only three characters: Annabella, the femme fatale; Margaret, a seeming damsel in distress; and Pamela, the tough-as-nails foil to Hannay. Morton has played these women in all three productions of the play that she’s been in. And, due to the time lapse between her characters coming onstage, Morton has the luxury of changing costumes behind the scenes.
“The Clowns do a lot of the chaotic work, but make it look so easy,” she said. “I get to swap out my wig, clothes and lipstick just offstage in the wings. The accents are the tricky bit – one scene I’m a German spy, the next I’m a Scottish lass (and) the next I’m a proper Brit. It’s like whiplash.
“I do think Pamela is my favorite because she gets a very full character arc. Her whole worldview changes throughout the play, and her heart – which, for reasons we don’t quite know in the show, is quite guarded – opens up. She does not suffer fools, and I love that about her. She’s a wonderful and deep character.”
In addition to “The 39 Steps,” Morton’s past work includes productions of “Into the Woods,” “Waitress,” “Legally Blonde, “Clue” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” all either touring productions or regional contracts.
The other cast members also boast illustrious resumes. Root’s Broadway credits include the Tony Award-winning “Avenue Q,” as well as TV appearances on “Snowfall,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Truth Be Told,” “The Young and the Restless” and “The Orville” while his voiceover work spans more than 200 commercials and major video game franchises.
Webb has appeared on Broadway and on tour in “Take Me Out,” “Burn This” and “Girl From the North Country,” with additional credits at Lincoln Center Theater, Carnegie Hall, The Old Globe and Shakespeare Theatre Co.
Foster, an award-winning director, actor and writer, was an obvious choice to direct “The 39 Steps” as he has been involved with several comedies and plays involving murder mystery stories. Some of his recent directing credits include the musicals “Come From Away” at the Sharon Playhouse in Connecticut, as well as “A Little Night Music” starring Kathleen Turner and “Little Shop Of Horrors” starring Latrice Royale, both at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine. He was named Director of the Year by The Wall Street Journal for his productions of “42nd Street” at the Bucks County Playhouse and “The Drowsy Chaperone” at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut.
Actors Jon Root and Ashley Margaret Morton in Laguna Playhouse’s production of “The 39 Steps.” Photo courtesy of Laguna Playhouse/Jason Niedle 
Actors Jeremy Webb, left, and Jon Root react during a comedic moment in Laguna Playhouse’s production of “The 39 Steps.” Photo courtesy of Laguna Playhouse/Jason Niedle 
From left: Ashley Margaret Morton, Jeremy Webb and Jon Root in Laguna Playhouse’s production of “The 39 Steps.” Photo courtesy of Laguna Playhouse/Jason Niedle 
From left: Jennifer Cody, Jon Root and Ashley Margaret Morton perform an action-packed scene in Laguna Playhouse’s “The 39 Steps.” Photo courtesy of Laguna Playhouse/Jason Niedle
Laguna Debuts
For the director and the entire cast, this was their first time taking part in a production at Laguna Playhouse.
“I’m loving my office being so close to the ocean,” Morton said. “It’s always a treat to work in my home state, being a Bay Area native.”
While originally from California, Morton has lived in New York for eight years and will return there after the show closes, “so I’m enjoying every bit of sunshine I can before I go.”
Cody and Foster, also from New York City, are enjoying their time by the Pacific as well.
“The town is just incredible,” Cody said. “We usually rehearse for the day, and then we have a break before the evening show. And just to be able to walk to the beach, to just breathe in that air and sit and watch the waves, it’s exhilarating. You know, in New York, we don’t really have a (place) … to be able to go sit and calm your mind and look at the water. So this has been a dream, and you know, the weather is just perfect here.”
Foster said, as an actor, he has been at La Jolla in San Diego County many times, but hasn’t spent that much time on the West Coast. But he leaped at the opportunity when he got the call from Adele Atkins, managing director of Laguna Playhouse. They had previously worked together at Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania.
“She reached out to me and asked me if I’d be interested,” Foster recalled. “I was like, ‘Well, Laguna Beach sounds incredible. That sounds amazing’ …. To come out and do this play was part of the draw and to work with Adele again.”
‘The 39 Steps’
When: Through Nov. 22
Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13, 17, 18 and 20; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14, 19 and 21; 1 p.m. Nov. 15 and 22
Where: Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach
Tickets: Starting at $88
More Info: 949-497-2787; lagunaplayhouse.com
Foster and Cody both signed on to do the show and, while couples working together could prove challenging, they’ve done it many times before.
“We worked together as actors,” Foster said, “and then I started directing and I’ve directed her before …. She’s really one of the funniest people that I know …. And she just has a real eye for comedy, so having her involved has been great.”
Foster said they trust each other, which makes it work. “(And) it’s the only time I get to tell her what to do,” he quipped.
Cody said there has been a sense of security having her husband of nearly 30 years as director for such a daunting project with so many parts that require vulnerability, taking big risks – and possibly failing in front of people – when creating the characters.
“I knew coming in that I had my husband directing, and I trust him as a director,” Cody said. “And my counterpart in the show, I also knew him from previous shows, so there was a safety. Like, if we’re gonna do this, at least I know I can trust the process of it.”
It’s also helpful that they often know what the other means with only a few words.
“Being married for a long time, you kind of can read each other’s minds,” she said. “And because we have been together so long, we have the same kind of sense of comedy or sense of how we put together plays. So it’s just short form now. Like he’ll give a note, and I’ll go, ‘Oh yeah, well you mean this.’ And so that part’s really easy because … working with new directors, it takes time to build trust.”
Cody has an affinity for developing characters. In fact, her next project is a three-person play for the holiday season at TheaterWorks Hartford in Connecticut. In that production, she portrays four people, Cody said, “so it’s very similar to what I’m doing here” – just not as many character changes in rapid succession; that whirlwind is unique to her performance in Laguna. Cody and the other actors make it a worthy trip to see “The 39 Steps,” an entertaining play with a particularly memorable cast of characters.
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